What You Already Know Pt 2: Grace: Gen Version
by MaureenT
Summary: While Sam is fighting for her life on the Prometheus, Daniel tries everything in his power to find her. A dire situation involving the Tok'ra soon sends him, Jack and Teal'c on a mission that could kill them all. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**What You Already Know Part 2: Grace (Gen Version)**

**Author:** MaureenT  
**Rating:** T  
**Categories:** Angst, Action/Adventure, Hurt/Comfort  
**Content Warning:** Mild Profanity, Violence  
**Spoilers:** Stargate Movie, The Nox, Fire and Water, Singularity, Enigma, Solitudes, Within the Serpent's Grasp, The Serpent's Lair, Prisoners, 1969, Out of Mind, Small Victories, Legacy, Crystal Skull, Scorched Earth, Entity, Summit, Last Stand, Meridian, Abyss, Metamorphosis, Full Circle, Orpheus, Space Race, Grace

**Author's Notes:** This is the second of a series of AU stories covering many of the events of the latter half of the 7th season and beyond. **It is strongly recommended that you read the previous story in this series first.**

* * *

CHAPTER ONE

"Unscheduled off-world activation."

As usual, the announcement made everyone who heard it wonder what surprise would be arriving through the Stargate this time. One of those people was Jack O'Neill, who entered the control room and came up beside General Hammond.

"Any idea who it is, General?" he asked.

"Not a clue. We have two SG teams out, but both of them are on follow-up missions to previously visited planets, so they shouldn't have run into any trouble. Of course, we all know that even the most mundane mission can sometimes turn deadly."

"Oh, yeah. Been there, done that."

A moment after the wormhole established, Sergeant Harriman announced that it was the Tok'ra who were calling. Hammond told him to open the iris.

Jack let out a groan when the first Tok'ra who appeared was Anise.

"Oh, I _really_ don't need this," he muttered. He was glad, however, that the other Tok'ra was Jacob.

Jack and the general went down to greet the Tok'ra.

"Hello, George, Jack. Good to see you again," Jacob said.

"You too, Jacob," Jack responded. "Can't say the same for your companion, I'm afraid."

Anise looked at him with a calm, emotionless face. "I can understand your reluctance to have dealings with me again, Colonel O'Neill. The incident with the Atanik armbands was very unfortunate, as was that with the Zatarcs."

"Unfortunate? Has anyone ever told you that you have a real gift for understatement?" Jack turned back to Jacob. "So, what brings you to our neighborhood today? I'm afraid that your daughter isn't here. She's off helping to bring the Prometheus home."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Sam's father said. "I was looking forward to seeing her. As to why we're here, it's regarding Daniel."

Jack's expression hardened, and he shook his head. "Uh uh. No. Negative. Niet. Not gonna happen. And if I haven't made myself _crystal_ clear, not even if hell freezes over."

"Colonel O'Neill, don't you think that we should find out what this is all about before we say no?" Hammond asked.

"Oh, I already know what it's about. They want to borrow Daniel for some special top secret mission."

The general looked at the Tok'ra. "Is he right about that?"

"Yes and no, George," Jacob replied. "Why don't we go to the briefing room to discuss it."

"I'll call Daniel," Jack said.

Daniel arrived at the briefing room a few minutes later. The second he saw Anise, he knew he wasn't going to like this. He definitely didn't like the way that the female Tok'ra was looking at him, like he was a fascinating specimen that she wanted to study.

"Okay, so what is this all about?" Jack asked.

"It is, of course, about Doctor Jackson's newly developed psychic abilities," Anise replied. "The Tok'ra are quite fascinated by their development and the reason for it." She turned to Daniel. "From what we have been told, these abilities of yours are a direct result of your time as an ascended being. Is that so?"

"Yes. Oma confirmed that I was changed by my ascension and returned to human form a bit different than I was before."

Jacob looked at Daniel sharply. "You've spoken to Oma Desala?"

"Yes. Twice, in fact."

"That's interesting. That must mean that she was immediately aware of what happened."

"Apparently."

"Did the Ancient tell you anything else?" Anise asked.

"A lot of things, most of which are things that you don't need to know. One thing I _will_ pass on to you is that she said I must not let others choose my path for me."

"Which is excellent advice, if you ask me," Jack said, "something that everyone here should take note of for future reference."

"So, what is this all about?" Daniel questioned. "I should tell you right off that if you're here to run some tests, I will have to refuse. I've already done the whole testing thing, and I'm not willing to do it again."

"Doctor Jackson, we have far more advanced equipment that could detect things that the equipment previously used on you would have been incapable of seeing," Anise explained. "I assure you that you would suffer no discomfort."

"Boy, you Tok'ra sure do have trouble with the word 'no', don't you, that is except when _you're_ saying it," Jack said. "You heard what Daniel said. No tests."

"We could gain a great deal of valuable information," Anise insisted.

"For what purpose?" Daniel asked. "Since it's because of my ascension that I can do these things, no amount of testing is going to give you the knowledge you need to reproduce this in other humans. It wouldn't be of any benefit to the human race. So, what would be the point of running tests? Just to satisfy your curiosity on how this works? Sorry, but that's not a good enough reason."

"There is a possibility that, if we can isolate the difference in your brain from that of a normal human, we could find a way to artificially reproduce it."

Jack waved his hands. "Okay, now, I have a _real_ problem with that. Did any of you by chance happen to hear about those lovely experiments that Nirrti did while trying to create psychic humans? Well, I gotta tell you. It was _not_ pretty. I saw two people dissolve into little puddles right before my eyes," he looked at Jacob, "and your daughter almost became number three. So, there is no way that we're going to play any part in you guys doing the Frankenstein bit."

"I assure you that our methods would not cause the same damage that Nirrti's did," Anise told him.

"But you'd still be playing God," Daniel responded. "The evolution of the human race into a higher form of life is supposed to be a natural process. Trying to speed things along like Nirrti did can only cause trouble."

"Yet you are a living example of evolution being advanced through a process that was not normal."

"No, it wasn't normal, but it also wasn't unnatural. Nobody toyed with my genes. What happened to me wasn't through artificial means. If your sole purpose for coming here was to use information gained from me to create a Hok'tar, an advanced human, then I'm afraid that you've come a very long way for nothing."

Anise opened her mouth to say something else, but she was silenced by Jacob.

"Anise, give it a rest," he told her. "He gave you his answer. Live with it." He turned his attention to the others. "There is another reason we're here. The Tok'ra have had missions in the past where Daniel's psychic abilities would have been of immense help, and there is no doubt that more missions like that will come up in the future."

"Ya see?" Jack said. "What did I tell you? They want Daniel for some mission."

"Not at the present moment, Jack," Jacob told him, "but, yes, if a mission ever does come up where we could really use Daniel's help, we want to know if that will be possible."

"Well, if you'll recall, the last time you borrowed Daniel for a mission, things didn't go so well. He was lucky to get out of it alive."

"I promise you that we would never put Daniel in that kind of danger again."

Jack shook his head. "Doesn't matter. You're not getting him. I guess you didn't get the latest memo."

"Memo?" Anise queried, confused by the word.

"Doctor Fraiser determined that using his psychic abilities could pose a threat to Doctor Jackson's health," General Hammond explained. "He suffered some trauma to his brain when he caused an Al'Kesh to explode while saving Major Carter's life."

Jacob's and Anise's eyes widened. They stared at Daniel.

"You blew up an Al'Kesh?" Jacob asked.

"Oh, you didn't hear about that?" Jack asked, enjoying their reaction. "Gee, I guess the Tok'ra grapevine isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"Such a level of power makes it even more vital that we discover how it works," Anise declared, her face more animated than any of the humans had ever seen.

Jack sighed in exasperation. "Aren't you listening? There's a chance that every time Daniel uses his psychic whammy, it could hurt him. The more he uses it the greater the chance is that it'll either kill him or leave him some kind of brain-damaged vegetable."

"We had no idea that using his abilities endangered his health, Jack," Jacob said. "Of course this changes everything. The Tok'ra wouldn't want to do anything to cause Daniel harm."

"Um, excuse me. Would anyone be interested in what I have to say?" Daniel asked, waving his hand slightly, as if to get their attention. Once he had it, he looked at Jack. "Jack, I appreciate you trying to protect me and keep me healthy, but I can't put my own life ahead of the lives of others. If there is something that only I can do that will save lives, I need to consider it."

"Daniel."

"Jack."

"I'm not liking what you're saying, Daniel."

"Jack, how many times have you risked your life to save others? How many times have all of us on SG-1 put our lives on the line to help people in need? Why should it be any different now? Has my life suddenly become so important that it's not worth risking regardless of the stakes?"

Jack did not reply, knowing that he could not say yes.

"Nothing has changed. If I have the opportunity to save others, I need to take it." Daniel looked at Jacob and Anise. "However, I am not going to go on some mission just because it'll make things easier for the Tok'ra. You can ask, but you need to accept my decision on whether or not I'll go."

"Agreed," Jacob said. "We would only ask for your help if we feel that we have no alternative."

"And it had better be something big, really, really big," Jack stressed, still not at all happy.

"Very well," Hammond said. "Now that we've settled—"

A sharp gasp from Daniel halted the general's statement. Everyone turned to see him gazing with slightly unfocused eyes off at nothing.

"Daniel?" Jack asked in concern.

"Sam," Daniel whispered. His eyes cleared, and he turned to Hammond. "General, something's happened to the Prometheus."

"What? Are you certain of that?"

"Yes. I don't know what's wrong, but something is. Sam's in danger, possibly hurt."

"Daniel, how could you possibly know that?" Jacob asked.

"I guess that's something else you didn't hear about," Jack responded. "Besides being able to control fire and move things with his mind, he can also see the future, and he can sense when there's something wrong." Jack's eyes went to Daniel. "In fact, you felt that something was going to happen before Carter even left."

"Yes, I did, and I realize now that I shouldn't have ignored what I felt. But what I'm sensing now isn't something that's going to happen in the future. It's happening right now, as we speak. Something has gone wrong with the Prometheus."

"They're due for a check-in in three hours," Hammond stated. "We'll wait to see if they call before we do anything."

"May I be excused, General?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, of course. Dismissed, everyone."

Daniel left the briefing room and hurried away. Jack started to follow him but changed his mind, guessing by the set of his shoulders that Daniel was planning on doing something that would be a bit too spooky for Jack. Though he had mostly gotten used to the idea that Daniel had all these psychic powers, it still gave Jack the willies on occasion.

Daniel went straight to his office. He shut the door behind him, needing complete privacy. He sat in his chair and closed his eyes. After he realized that the dream he had about Sam's death was a vision of the future, he talked to Eliza White about it. The biofeedback therapist told him that the brainwave frequency he was at when he had the vision was linked to the power of ESP, extrasensory perception, though she had never heard of someone having a precognitive vision. Now, Daniel was hoping that going to that frequency again would enable him to see what was wrong with Sam and the Prometheus.

Pushing his concern for Sam out of his thoughts, Daniel slowed his brainwave pattern until he had reached the desired four point zero hertz. Not quite sure how to go about it, he attempted to reach out to Sam, to feel her, or see her, or _something_. The minutes ticked by with no success. Then, for a brief instant, he saw a huge alien ship, then something that looked sort of like a nebula. The image faded, and, as hard as he tried, he couldn't get anything more. Giving up for now, Daniel opened his eyes.

At that moment, there was a knock on the door. At the same time, Daniel's sixth sense kicked in, but what it told him was puzzling. There was a feeling of two entities that were strangely blended into one. An instant later, he realized that what he was feeling was a host and its symbiote.

_'Wow. Wait till I tell Sam that I can sense Goa'uld and Tok'ra now.'_

Daniel opened the door to find Anise on the other side.

"Doctor Jackson, may I speak with you in private?" she asked.

The archeologist was tempted to say no, but his natural courteousness kicked in, and he stepped back to allow the woman entrance.

"I have come to ask that you reconsider allowing me to conduct some tests," Anise said. "The Tok'ra have never encountered an individual with all of the psychic skills that you now possess. Any information that we could gain from studying how you are able to do these things could prove invaluable. I assure you that no harm would come to you. I would exercise great care."

"Anise, you just don't seem to understand," Daniel said. "It isn't about me. If I believed in what you're trying to do, I'd go along with your tests even if there was some risk. I wasn't there when SG-1 tangled with Nirrti that last time – or, if I was, I have no memory of it – but I read the report, and I know what her experiments did to those people. I also saw first hand what happened to Cassandra, Doctor Fraiser's adopted daughter, because of Nirrti's meddling. She nearly died. Okay, so you say that whatever methods you would use wouldn't be the same as Nirrti's, but that still doesn't guarantee that something won't go wrong, that innocent people won't suffer because of your efforts to create humans with psychic abilities. You can't promise that won't happen. Whenever people meddle with nature and try to change it, they are taking the chance of causing a catastrophe. Now, while some genetic engineering can result in good things, the possible consequences of what you want to do are way too dangerous."

Daniel studied the woman's face. There was one thing that he could offer her, though he suspected that it wouldn't be anywhere near enough to appease her. "I know it's not what you want, but I can tell you that I was able to tap into these abilities by controlling my brainwave pattern and taking it to certain frequencies," he said. "There have been studies done that show that certain frequencies can tap into a human's natural psychic potential. If you're at all interested, I can direct you to information about it. I can also tell Doctor Fraiser to let you see the results of the medical tests she ran on me. But that is all I am willing to do, Anise."

"There is no way that I can change your mind?"

"None. I'm sorry."

"Then I will not bother you again."

The Tok'ra left. It wasn't even ten seconds later that Jack showed up.

"I saw Anise leave," he said. "Did she try to convince you to go through with her tests?"

"Yes, but I gave her the same answer, and she accepted it this time."

"Really? I thought she'd be a lot more pushy."

Daniel shrugged. "I guess she realized that she'd be wasting her breath."

"So, what do you know about what's going on with Carter and the Prometheus?"

"Not much, I'm afraid. I tried to, um, see something more, but I didn't have much success. To be honest, I really don't know what I'm doing. I don't know how to control this. Blowing things up and pulling weapons out of people's hands is a lot easier. I just have this bad feeling that Sam and the Prometheus are in trouble. I also have this feeling that she's hurt."

"Well, I guess we'll find out soon enough. Let's hope that you're wrong."

At that moment, a request for Jack's presence came over the P.A. system. With a sigh he left, telling Daniel that they'd talk later.

Daniel made an attempt to get some work done, but his concern for Sam was interfering with his ability to focus.

Giving up on work, Daniel decided to try again to get some information on Sam. As his brain reached the right frequency, Daniel tried as hard as he could to see Sam. For a long, frustrating moment, there was nothing, then, all at once, Daniel saw an image of her wandering alone and hurt through the corridors of the Prometheus. The image lasted only a moment, then was gone.

Daniel's eyes blinked open. This new vision worried him even more. Why was Sam alone? Where was the rest of the crew? And how badly was she hurt? She looked terrible, struggling to stay upright.

Sick with worry, Daniel almost didn't sense the person approaching his office. When he did, he again felt that odd duality within the person. He immediately knew that it was Jacob and his symbiote, Selmak.

"Hey, Jacob," Daniel said, not thinking about the fact that the man hadn't appeared in the doorway yet. Sam's father came into view about two seconds later and stared at Daniel.

"How'd you do that?"

"Uh, it's something else I found out I can do. I can sometimes sense when someone is near."

The Tok'ra shook his head and came into the office. "Just don't tell Anise. She's already pouting that you won't let her dig around in your brain."

"She'll get over it."

Jacob took a seat. "This incident with the Al'Kesh that you destroyed. What's the whole story behind that?"

Daniel gave him a brief rundown.

"So, you saw it all in a dream beforehand and realized that the dream was coming true?"

"Yes."

"And Sam would have died if you hadn't acted?"

Daniel nodded.

"Then I want to thank you for saving my daughter's life."

"There's no need to thank me, Jacob," Daniel said. "I did what anyone else would have done for a teammate if they'd had the ability. Also, Sam is my friend. I couldn't let her die."

"Nevertheless, I owe you one."

"You don't owe me a thing, Jacob. Sam has helped save my life more than once."

Jacob adopted a mock stern tone. "Don't argue with me, Daniel. I'm older, wiser, and I used to be a general."

A smile brightened Daniel's face. "Yes, sir."

Jacob gaze at him searchingly. "How are you doing, Daniel? This must be a lot for you to take in. I was pretty shocked when I heard about it and about yours and Teal'c's escape through the Stargate. I also thought that the president was an idiot."

"Well, your opinion of the president was shared by more than one person."

"Jack?"

"Need you ask?"

"No, the answer's pretty obvious. I'd bet that Sam was pretty ticked off, too."

"Just a bit."

"So, what are you intending to do about this? I assume that, now that you're back on SG-1, the SGC will be making some use of your abilities, though it sounds like that use will be rather limited."

Daniel shook his head. "Not unless it's necessary. Janet is pretty insistent that I don't blow anything up or make anything float through the air unless I really have to, which is fine with me. I never wanted any of this in the first place."

"Many people would give a lot to have that kind of power."

"Well, I'm not one of them."

"Even though you've already saved lives with it?"

"I'm glad that I could save my teammates and SG-3, but this kind of power is a scary thing to have, Jacob. It's changed my life, and I can't say that the change is for the better."

"SG-3?"

"Oh, um, yeah. They ran into a little trouble, and Teal'c and I just happened to be there to lend them a hand."

Jacob smiled. "Why do I get the feeling that's an understatement?"

"Because Daniel is way too modest, that's why," Jack said, coming into the room. He looked at Jacob. "Hey, I heard the joyful news that Anise is leaving."

Jacob laughed. "I get the impression that you don't like her much, Jack."

"Really? Whatever gave you that idea?"

"Yes, she is leaving. Since Daniel has refused to submit to her tests, she no longer has a reason to be here."

"Good. Will you be leaving, too?"

"No, I'll be hanging around for a while longer, at least until we learn something about Sam. However, I do have to talk to Anise before she leaves, so I'd better get to the gate room."

"Well, give her a kiss goodbye for me and tell her that absence does _not_ make my heart grow fonder for her, but it sure does make it happier."

Shaking his head in amusement, Jacob walked off to the control room.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

The moment that Jacob was gone, Jack walked over to a wall and leaned against it, arms crossed. The stern expression on his face immediately warned Daniel that the man was on a mission, and he was pretty sure that he knew what that mission was. An instant later, he was proven correct.

"Okay, you and I are going to talk about you volunteering for Tok'ra missions," Jack said.

"I already made my decision, so there's nothing to talk about."

"I beg to differ."

Daniel sighed loudly. "Jack, if there was some mission for the SGC that really needed my abilities, one that would save lots of lives or deal a major blow to the System Lords, wouldn't you be for it?"

"That all depends on how dangerous it was."

"So, you're saying that, even if I could prevent the deaths of hundreds of people by going, it wouldn't be worth it if there was a good chance I'd get killed?"

"I didn't say that."

"Then what _are_ you saying."

Jack pushed away from the wall. "I'm just saying that I'd have to weigh the possible benefits against the possible losses."

"And the possible benefit of saving hundreds doesn't outweigh my possible death?"

Jack threw up his hands. "Dammit, Daniel. What do you want me to say? 'Cus I gotta tell ya. If I could have chosen between letting that little chunk of Kelowna blow to hell or watching you die a horrible, excruciating death, I really think I'd have let the city go boom."

Daniel stared at him in shock. "How can you say that?"

"It was easy."

"So, what about when all of us went on what we believed was a suicide mission to save Earth?"

"That's different."

"Why?"

"Because it was for Earth and because. . . ."

"Because what?"

Jack walked away a few feet, his back stiff. "Because it was all of us, the whole team," he said in a low voice. "We were in it together."

It suddenly all became clear to Daniel. "And, if we all died together, you wouldn't be left behind to grieve."

Jack began fiddling with something on the worktable.

"You let me go on the mission with Jacob," Daniel reminded him softly.

"Which was a really big mistake, one that I bitterly regretted the moment you were gone, just like I regretted letting you and Bill Lee go off to Honduras without me."

Daniel waited, letting Jack choose his moment to continue. It came after several seconds.

"I've lost a lot of people I care about, Daniel," Jack said, still turned away. "I lost my son, my wife, a lot of good friends. I watched Carter die. Hell, I pulled the trigger! I watched Teal'c die. And you . . . I've watched you die or thought you were dead too many times to count. And I have to say that last time was a real doozy. So, I just . . . I really don't want to go through that again."

The tiny hint of pain he heard in Jack's voice speared right through Daniel's chest. "I know, Jack," he said gently.

Jack sighed quietly. "But you're going to go on those missions anyway."

"Yes, I am, because I have to. I can't value my life above hundreds of others. I can't turn my back upon people who need my help." Daniel paused. "Would you really want me to?"

"Yes, sometimes. I wish you weren't so quick to throw your life away."

"Jack, when have I ever thrown my life away?"

The colonel didn't answer, knowing that the younger man had a good point. Daniel had never gotten himself killed or nearly killed for no good reason. Every time, it had been either through no fault of his own or because he was fighting to protect someone. Even when he was nearly strangled to death on Hadante, it had been because he was trying to save those men from being killed by the energy vortex of the opening wormhole. And when he risked his life to save Ke'ra, even though he knew that she was actually Linea, it was because he'd seen the good that was in her and believed that goodness was worth saving.

Jack met Daniel's eyes. "You're right, Daniel. I'm sorry I made that accusation."

Jack knew that he needed to explain why the thought of Daniel going off on dangerous Tok'ra missions bothered him so. "Daniel, when we all go on a mission, I know that there is a chance that one or more of us could get killed. I can accept that, though I always hope that, if one of us is going to die, it'll be me. The point is that it's us out there on a mission _together_, backing each other up, taking equal risks, being a team." Jack looked straight into Daniel's eyes. "The problem is when you do things on your own, like deciding to beam up to an alien ship that you know I'm about to blow up or . . . or going off and throwing yourself through a window when you know that you'll be exposing yourself to a lethal dose of radiation. That's not all of us risking our lives for a mission, it's _you_ choosing to sacrifice yourself or put yourself in extreme danger, and that really bothers me. I'm not there to back you up, to pull your ass out of trouble if you need it."

Daniel's eyes bored into Jack's soul. "To give your life in place of mine?" he questioned gently.

Jack's gaze slid away from his. "Yes, if there's no other alternative."

"Do you think I'd want that, Jack?"

The colonel didn't answer.

Daniel covered the distance between them. "Jack, I don't _want_ to die. You know that. I don't _want_ to put my life on the line. But, sometimes, I have to make a decision on my own to do something that could get me killed because I know that it's worth it, that whether I live or die isn't as important as what I would accomplish. How many times have you done the same? And don't tell me that it's different when it's you, because it's not. There is no difference. I once told you that my life is no more important than anyone else's, and that includes you. You, me, Sam, and Teal'c have all risked our lives in our fight against the Goa'uld and in our exploration of the galaxy. How do you think I felt all the times when I was the one who thought that I had lost or was going to lose one of you, sometimes _all_ of you? When we blew up Apophis' ships, I thought that all three of you were dead."

Jack's eyes returned to Daniel's, seeing the traces of that old pain there.

Daniel continued. "But if there was some mission or some other situation where one or more of you needed to risk your life to save others, I wouldn't try to stop you, because I'd know that what you were doing was right and that I couldn't put my feelings and what I wanted ahead of the welfare of others." He searched Jack's eyes. "And I could never ask any of you to go against what you believed was right just for my sake."

Jack's gaze dropped from his friend's. He knew this. He knew that what Daniel was saying was right, as much as he hated to admit it.

"And I would _never_ want you, or Sam, or Teal'c, or anyone else to give your life for mine. I would far rather die myself," Daniel stated. He took one more step. "I can only make you one promise, Jack, the same promise that I made Sam a while ago, that I'll put a little more thought into it before jumping into a situation that could get me killed. I hope that's enough."

Again, Jack met Daniel's eyes. "It's enough. I'm not saying that I'm going to be happy about it, but it'll be enough." Jack gently poked Daniel in the chest with a finger. "But, if you ever _are_ in that kind of situation again, I'm going to be right there with you, backing you up, if I have any say in the matter."

Daniel nodded, giving Jack the tiniest of smiles, his eyes full of understanding. "I can live with that."

"See that you do. _Live_ with it, that is."

Daniel's smile grew fractionally. "So, we're all settled?"

"All settled."

"Good." Daniel went back over to his desk and sat down. Jack perched himself on the corner of the worktable.

"So, are you going to try to do the . . . thing again?" the colonel asked.

Daniel quirked an eyebrow. "The thing?"

Jack waved his hand about. "The psychic stuff, to try finding out what's happened to the Prometheus."

"Oh. Um, actually, I already did. I saw something else, but not much. Like I said, I really don't know how to make it work. When I had that vision of Sam dying, it was unintentional. It just happened. The same goes for all of the times I've had premonitions and sensed things. It just happens, almost like it's a new sense that I've developed to go along with my five others."

"A sixth sense? Daniel, so help me, if you say, 'I see dead people,' I am outta here."

Daniel fought back his smile. "Relax, Jack. The only time I ever saw dead people was when I was infested with that Goa'uld-killing slug of Ma'chello's."

"What a relief. All this other stuff going on with you is weird enough. That would be _way_ over the top."

The humor in Daniel's eyes died, and his gaze dropped to the desk. Realizing that he'd screwed up yet again, Jack hurried to make things right.

"Not that I think that _you're _weird, Daniel, I mean, no weirder than I always thought you were. It's just that these things you can do are, you know, kind of. . . ."

"Spooky? Freakish? Unnatural?" There was a slight pause. "Alien? Pick an adjective, Jack. I've got a few more if none of those are what you're looking for."

"Hey, come on. I didn't mean it that way." Crap. Sam had said that they needed to treat Daniel like he was no different than he was before, and here Jack went and made the guy believe that Jack looked at him like some kind of freak.

"Daniel, listen to me," Jack said in a quiet but firm voice. He waited for the younger man to look at him. "Yes, these things that you can do are _way_ beyond the ordinary, everyday, run-of-the-mill kind of stuff, and, yes, they can be pretty spooky and are sometimes downright scary, when you think about it. But they are just things that you can _do_. They don't change who you _are_, no more than . . . than learning a new language changes who you are. You're still Daniel Jackson, archeologist, anthropologist and linguist extraordinaire. You're still a member of SG-1, the premiere team of the SGC." Jack paused. "And you're still my friend. A bunch of psychic powers aren't going to change that."

Daniel searched Jack's eyes, looking for any doubt, any hesitation. He saw none. A tight little knot inside his chest loosened, sending a feeling of relief flowing through him.

"Thanks, Jack," he said.

"Nothing to thank me for, Daniel. I'm just stating things the way they are." A sudden thought occurred to Jack. "Are you having trouble with some of the personnel because of all this?"

"No, everything's okay. At first, there were some people who didn't know how to act around me, but that's mostly gone away. Every once in a while, I still get an odd look or two, but I'm sure that will fade in time. Do you remember what it was like for Teal'c during those first few weeks here?"

"Yeah."

"Well, take away the hostility and suspicion because of who he was and the fear and gross-out factor because of the Goa'uld larva inside his stomach, then tone it down a bit because everyone here already knew me before this happened, and you'll have some idea of what it was like during those first few days."

"People were nervous, hesitant, kind of leery of you?"

"Uh huh. Not everyone, though. Just some. To be honest, I could handle that a lot better than the other reaction."

"What reaction is that?" Jack asked, already knowing.

"The, um. . . ."

"Awestruck hero worship?" Jack suggested with a smirk.

Daniel's made a face. "I wouldn't call it hero worship, Jack."

"Oh, I don't know about that. I know of a certain young lieutenant who was tripping all over his own tongue while going on about how awed he was over you blowing up an Al'Kesh and how much he respected you. It was quite entertaining to watch. And I hear that a lot of those rebel Jaffa you put on that show for would jump at the chance to follow you into battle."

Daniel's gaze returned to the desk. "That's not what I wanted, Jack. Some of them looked at me like I was a . . . a god. You have no idea how upsetting that was to me."

"Hey, the Abydonians thought that we were all gods when we first showed up there."

"That was different. They didn't know any better. Those Jaffa should know better. After all, they'd all rejected the belief that the Goa'uld are gods. They'd realized that displays of great power didn't make someone a god."

"Yeah, but the Goa'uld can't melt staff weapons, create fire and move things with only the power of their minds. You can't really blame some of those Jaffa for looking upon what you did as godlike, especially considering how they were all raised from infancy to view the Goa'uld."

Daniel let out a sigh. "No, I guess not. I just hope that Bra'tac is right, that they won't keep thinking like that."

"So, you don't want to be the new god of the Jaffa?" Jack asked in amusement.

"No, not especially. I've got too much work to do as it is."

"Yeah, I should imagine that being a god would pretty much be a full-time job. But, hey. There is one advantage. Other people do your paperwork for you."

Daniel smiled faintly. "But I _like_ paperwork. Remember?"

"Oh, yeah, that's right. Okay, scratch the god gig. Definitely not the right job for you."

"Now, if the Goa'uld would just come to feel the same way, we'd be all set."

* * *

The time that the Prometheus was supposed to check in had come and gone without one word being received from the ship. They were now two hours overdue in reporting. Normally, this would not be all that worrisome since their contact schedule was, out of necessity, rather flexible because of all the unknowns that could cause a delay. But, because of Daniel's premonition and the visions he'd had, Hammond was willing to accept that the Prometheus was in trouble. Daniel, Jack, the general and Jacob were all in the briefing room now, discussing the situation.

"I saw some kind of alien ship," Daniel said as he talked about what he'd seen in his visions. "It wasn't like anything I've seen before. What I saw also leads me to believe that the gas cloud Sam wanted to investigate is involved somehow."

"Gas cloud? What gas cloud?" Jack asked.

"The Prometheus was going to be passing near it, and Sam wanted to check it out. She said that it had some interesting properties."

"I _knew_ it! I knew that there was something more to this trip than her just wanting to make sure the hyperdrive engine didn't have any problems."

"The real reason for Major Carter volunteering to go is not important at the moment, Colonel," Hammond stated. "What _is_ important is that she and the rest of the crew may be in danger."

"She's alone," Daniel murmured.

Hammond looked at him with a frown. "Alone? But what about the rest of the crew?"

"I don't know, but I am certain that Sam is alone. There's nobody to help her."

The general turned to face Jacob. "Can the Tok'ra send a ship to look for them?"

Sam's father shook his head. "I doubt it. We have no ships available right now."

"What about the Asgard?" Daniel asked.

"They don't have a very good track record when it comes to responding to our calls for help in a speedy manner," Jack replied.

"Nevertheless, we will try to contact them," Hammond said. "I'm afraid that, for now, that's all we can do."

A thought occurred to Daniel. "Maybe not. If the Prometheus ran into trouble, they might have managed to make it to a planet with a Stargate. Couldn't we send SG teams to all of the planets that would be within range of the ship's route?"

"If they made it to a planet with a Stargate, they'd just gate home, wouldn't they?" Jack pointed out.

"Not necessarily. When the hyperdrive failed on the Prometheus' maiden voyage, you were nearly stranded on P7X-009 because nobody knew where the Stargate was."

"It still sounds like a longshot to me."

"Well, it's better than doing nothing," Daniel responded, not liking Jack's negativity. "I can put together a list of planets that would be possibilities."

Hammond nodded. "Do it. We'll send as many SG teams as we can on the search mission, including SG-1."

"Um, sir, I'd rather stay here," Daniel said. "I want to keep trying to get more information."

"All right." The general looked around at the assembled men. "Is there anything else?"

"I'd like to contact the Tok'ra to make sure we have no ships available," Jacob replied.

"Of course. Everyone dismissed."

The men filed out of the room. Daniel went to his office and immediately got to work on the list. He hadn't gotten very far when Jack came in. The colonel handed him a sheet of paper.

"Hammond told me to give you that. It's the general area that the Prometheus should have been in when you first sensed that there was trouble. Of course, it's not taking into consideration any delays . . . including any unscheduled side trips."

"Good. Thanks. I'll put the planets in these areas at the top of the list. I should also find out where that gas cloud is and see if there are any gates in the vicinity." Daniel glanced at Jack. "I suppose that you're ticked off that Sam didn't tell you about the gas cloud."

"I wouldn't say ticked off, just not pleased."

Daniel turned his full attention on the colonel. "Jack, she's an astrophysicist on a big spaceship. Could you really expect her not to want to explore?"

"No, I'd just have liked to have known that she was planning on doing that."

"Well, for one thing, she didn't know if she'd be able to. It would all be up to Colonel Ronson. For another thing, you were already unhappy about her going. If you'd found out that she had an ulterior motive, you'd have been even less happy."

"What did she think, that I'd forbid her to go?"

Daniel shrugged. "I don't know."

Jack frowned. "I wouldn't have forbidden her to go."

"Then you'll have to tell her that when . . ." Daniel hesitated, his gaze going to a framed photo of the team, the figure of a smiling Sam catching his eyes, "when she comes home," he finished in a quieter tone of voice.

Jack watched the emotions flitting over his friend's face. "You're really worried about her," he said.

"Yes. I _know_ that something is really wrong, Jack. She's hurt, and she's alone, and scared, and doesn't know what's going on."

"Is that something you felt from her or just something that you can sense?"

"I don't think that I'm empathic or telepathic, if that's what you mean. I didn't tap into her thoughts and emotions. It's just a feeling that I have."

"We _will_ find her, Daniel," Jack assured his friend.

The archeologist looked up at him. "You were being pretty negative in the briefing room."

"Just trying to be a realist. You have to admit that, if they did have trouble, the chances of them having gotten to a planet with a Stargate, let alone landing anywhere near the gate, are pretty slim."

"Yes, you're right that the odds aren't good, but at least there is _some_ chance. It's better than doing nothing."

Jack studied the archeologist's expression. "I'm worried, too, Daniel, but Carter's a smart woman who is very good at taking care of herself. She's pulled our nuts out of the fire more than once."

Daniel's head nodded slightly. "Yes, you're right. She'll be fine. She'll probably get the Prometheus out of whatever trouble they're in all by herself."

"Knowing Carter, that wouldn't surprise me at all."

Jacob came walking into the office, his expression serious.

"I'm guessing by the look on your face that the Tok'ra don't have a ship available," Jack said.

"No, they don't, just as I thought. It will likely be a few days before they do. But, now, another problem has come up. Two of our operatives are in big trouble. They were on one of Baal's planets when a nearby volcano decided to get cranky. The Jaffa and the minor Goa'uld who were there escaped through the Stargate, leaving all of the humans behind to die."

"So, what else is new?" Jack muttered, not the least bit surprised by the action.

"The Tok'ra attempted to evacuate the people in the area, but the DHD was severely damaged by one of the rocks that the volcano is spewing out. As for the cargo ship the Tok'ra came in, let's just say that it was parked a bit too close to the volcano."

Jack gave him a tight little smile. "Not gonna be flying anytime soon?"

"I doubt it. Fortunately, one of the Tok'ra had a long-range communications device, and they contacted the Tok'ra base. The problem is that, even if there _was_ a ship available to rescue everyone, it would take far too long to get there. I just talked to General Hammond, and he agreed to loan us a Naquadah generator to power up the gate."

"How far are they from the volcano?" Daniel asked.

"I don't know, close enough that there is definitely a danger."

"Did the Tok'ra tell you what kind of eruption it is?"

"There's a huge column of ash erupting from the volcano. Ash and pumice are already starting to cover the ground, and, like I said before, there have been some rocks as well as lava bombs coming down. Everyone is taking shelter in the buildings. The Tok'ra were going to try evacuating all the people from the danger zone but were told to wait in case we could come up with an alternate plan."

Daniel shook his head. "There may not be enough time to set up a Naquadah generator and then dial the gate by hand. A pyroclastic flow could wipe out everything at any minute."

"A pyro what?" Jack asked.

"A pyroclastic flow. Think of it as a kind of avalanche, except that it consists of hot ash, pumice, rock fragments, and volcanic gas, with temperatures as high as eight hundred degrees Celsius and traveling at hurricane-force speeds. It'll destroy virtually everything in its path."

"Oh, joy. So, how come you know so much about volcanoes? That's not part of archeology."

"It is if you're working on digs like the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. I spent the summer there during my junior year in college. And believe me. If this eruption is anything like what happened to Vesuvius in 79 A.D., we've got to get those people out of there as fast as possible."

"What other option is there except a Naquadah generator?" Jacob asked.

Jack saw the expression on Daniel's face. "No, Daniel. Absolutely not. I know what we just talked about, but you are _not_ going to go traipsing off into the middle of a volcanic eruption. You remember what happened to the Tollans when we first found them?"

"Yes, I do, Jack, which is why I can't stay here if there's something I can do to help."

"Would somebody like to explain, please?" Jacob asked, confused.

"I can dial the gate manually," Daniel told him. "We would still use the generator to power it up, but I can turn the ring a whole lot faster than anyone could by hand."

"You can do that?" the Tok'ra asked in surprise.

"Well, actually, I've never tried, but the chances are good that I can."

"And if you can't?" Jack asked. "You'd be stuck there."

"I'll run a test on our gate." The archeologist looked at Jacob. "How many people are in the danger zone?"

"They don't know for sure, but the village where the two operatives are has a population of around four or five hundred."

Daniel gave a sharp nod. "Okay, let's go see if I can dial the gate."

They headed to the control room. Hammond was called to the room, and Daniel explained what he wanted to do. The general gave him permission to try a manual dial-up of the gate and gave warning to the men in the gate room.

Complete silence descended on the control room as Daniel stared at the Stargate intently. Finding that he no longer needed to prepare himself first, he immediately focused his mind on making the inner ring of the gate turn. For a long moment, nothing happened, then, slowly, the ring started to move, gradually gaining speed. Once he reached the first glyph he wanted, he locked the chevron in place, then went on to the second glyph, and then the third.

By the time Daniel did the sixth chevron, he was turning the ring nearly as fast as the SGC's systems could. At last, the seventh and final chevron locked, and the wormhole burst to life. Daniel turned around in surprise at the sound of applause behind him. All of the control room personnel were clapping, impressed smiles on their faces.

"Congratulations," Jack said. "If the computers ever go down, we'll call on you."

Hammond told the technician to shut down the gate. "All right, Doctor Jackson, you've proven that you can dial the gate. You've got a go for the mission, but I'm sending a MALP through first to check on the conditions."

"Sir, permission to—" Jack began. He was interrupted by his C.O.

"Granted, Colonel. I wouldn't expect you to let Doctor Jackson go without you. Take Teal'c and SG-6, too."

"Yes, sir."

The next forty minutes were spent quickly gathering the things that would be needed. Siler would be going along to hook the gate up to the generator, and some medical personnel would be coming to treat the injuries that, no doubt, would have occurred. The rescuers would not be returning directly to the SGC. Because of the large number of refugees, they would all be going to the Alpha Site. Once the rescue team was through the gate, Hammond intended to let the people at the Alpha Site know what was coming their way.

The moment that the wormhole was established, Hammond ordered the MALP to be sent through. The image it showed looked like something straight out of a disaster movie. Just a few miles away, a volcano was spewing forth a miles-high column of ash and pumice. They could see the stuff falling downward like dirty snow to cover the earth. Everything all around the gate looked grey and dead.

All at once, several people appeared, filthy, terrified figures running to the gate, screaming pleas for rescue. Daniel's eyes met Jack's, and the colonel nodded. There was no question now that they had to go.

A few moments later, as Daniel stepped through the gate, a thought passed through his mind that he hoped the rest of SG-1 survived long enough to welcome Sam home. 


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

As Sam filled bags with food in preparation for what might be a very long wait for rescue, she wondered if her concussion was causing hallucinations or if she was simply going insane. First, she could have sworn that she saw a little girl. Then came a full-blown hallucination of Teal'c, who she not only saw but also felt and heard. Most recently, she'd heard a child's voice singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." She had followed the sound but found no one. What would a child be doing on the Prometheus anyway? She couldn't really be there, which meant that the voice was yet another hallucination. What would come next?

There was something else as well. A while ago, Sam had gotten this feeling that someone was reaching out to her, searching for her. Something about it had seemed familiar in an almost comforting way. Sam didn't understand the sensation or why she felt it. But, for some strange reason, it had given her a feeling of being not so alone, as if someone who cared a great deal was out there looking for her.

"You're going nuts, Sam," she muttered to herself and resumed packaging food.

* * *

The images from the MALP could not prepare everyone for what they experienced as they exited the Stargate. Falling like hail, the pumice pelted them continually. Even through their protective gear, it was uncomfortable. And then there was the ash. Still warm from the raging depths that had given birth to it, it drifted down in a steady grey curtain. And looming above them was the terrifying bulk of the volcano, a roiling column of ash rising at least twenty miles into the air from its mouth. Tongues of fire leapt from the crater, casting a red glow over the cloud.

Just before them was a village of stone and brick buildings. Several people looked timidly out of the structures. As soon as they saw the group from the SGC, they ran forward, just as they had when the MALP came through. Desperate hands began clutching at the clothing of the rescuers, threatening to pull the people off their feet.

"Stop! Stop!" Daniel called out, trying to calm them. "We're here to help. Just stay calm. We'll get you all out of here."

Daniel's words must have filtered through the people's panic. They backed away a little. Two Tok'ra wended their way through the crowd.

"We were told that help would be requested from Earth," said one of them, his voice possessing the deep echo of a symbiote. "Did you bring an alternate power source for the Stargate?"

Jacob looked at Daniel with a little smile. "You could say that."

"Okay, we need to hurry up and get these people together and through the gate," Jack stated, all business. "Are there any injured?"

"Yes," replied other Tok'ra. "They are in that building over there." He pointed to a low stone structure. The medics hurried off to do their job.

"All right, everyone!" Jack called out loudly to the people who were gathered there. "We are going to get all of you through the Stargate and to safety, but we have to do it fast. Get your families and everyone else together. We'll start sending people through as soon as we get the Stargate open."

Jack ordered SG-6 to help gather the people and sent Teal'c to the building holding the wounded to see if help would be needed with them. He then turned to Daniel.

"We're only going to have thirty-eight minutes once that gate opens, so I hope this goes smoothly. If they panic, we'll have a mess on our hands."

"I know, and, judging by the look of that volcano, we are really running out of time."

"Yeah, I noticed. Okay, you and Siler get to work—"

Jack never got a chance to finish his sentence, for, at that moment, the ground beneath their feet started shaking violently. Terrified screams rose above the loud rumbling as everyone fought to stay on their feet, many failing. The rescuers watched as several buildings in the village began to crumble, more screams coming from within.

And then a new sound captured their attention. They turned to the Stargate and watched, horrified, as the base it was mounted on cracked open. Knowing what was going to happen but powerless to stop it, those near the gate tried to flee, only to be blocked by the sudden crush of bodies. With a final loud grating sound, the gate toppled forward, straight toward the dozens still standing before it.

With a yell, Jack threw himself forward, knowing that he wasn't going to get clear. His arms covered his head in a fruitless gesture, and his whole body tensed, waiting for the crushing weight to hit him. When a few seconds passed and nothing happened, he uncovered his head and looked up.

The Stargate stood poised over him and the others, slanted at an angle of over forty-five degrees, defying all the laws of gravity with its motionlessness. His mouth dropping open, Jack turned to Daniel. The archeologist stood a few feet away, his eyes closed, face tight with concentration, a hand stretched out toward the gate.

The earthquake had stopped, but no one even noticed as they stood witness to something that should have been impossible.

"Unbelievable," Jacob said in a hushed voice, stunned amazement written all over his face. That expression was mirrored by the two other Tok'ra. As for everyone else, their expressions were ones of shock and awe.

Jack got to his feet and moved out from underneath the Stargate, as did the others. Only Daniel remained unmoving, seemingly oblivious to everything around him except the massive object that the power of his mind alone was holding in place.

"Jack, do you have any idea how much a Stargate weighs?" Jacob asked.

"Yeah, I do," he replied. Thirty-two tons. That was thirty-two tons Daniel was holding up.

His thoughts were interrupted by a strained voice.

"Jack, I can't hold it for much longer," Daniel said.

Concern instantly flared within Jack, and he hurried over to his friend. Daniel's face was etched with pain.

"Back up a few feet and let it down, Daniel," Jack told him. "Everyone else is clear."

Daniel's eyes opened, squinting with pain. "I can't. We won't be able to dial the gate if it's lying on its front, and I don't think I'll have the strength to lift it back up."

Even as he spoke, his face paled, and he started to tremble. "We need to lay it on its back," he grated out. "I can't . . . not alone."

Realizing that Daniel desperately needed help, Jack called out, "Grab the Stargate! We need to push it over on its back!"

Jack, Jacob, the two Tok'ra and several other men hurried forward and took hold of the gate. Pushing with all their strength, they helped Daniel lift the gate upright. Then they aided him as he slowly lowered it to the ground on its back.

As the Stargate came to rest on the earth, Jack looked at Daniel. All of the color had leached out of the archeologist's face. He swayed on his feet, and Jack just barely made it to his side before his legs gave out. Jack eased him to the ground, grasping his shoulders tightly. Daniel's head dipped forward, and Jack thought he was going to pass out.

"Daniel? Come on, buddy. Stay with me," the colonel said, the slightest edge of fear in his voice.

"God, it hurts," Daniel whispered raggedly.

"I know, Daniel," Jack murmured.

"Is he all right, Jack?" Jacob asked, kneeling beside them, deep concern on his face.

A spark of anger lit within the colonel. "Does he look all right to you?" he snapped. "He just lifted sixty-four thousand pounds, Jacob. How the hell do you think he feels?"

"N-no. I'm . . . I'm all right. I'll be okay," Daniel insisted rather weakly.

"Sure you will, Daniel. But, for right now, you're going to stay right here and rest." Jack sought out Siler's face. "Siler!" he yelled as soon as he spied the man. "Get that Naquadah generator hooked up to the gate, and somebody get Teal'c. We're going to need his muscle to turn that ring."

"Yes, sir!" The sergeant rushed to comply.

"Jack," Daniel began in protest.

"No, Daniel. You're in no condition to do it. If I even _thought_ about letting you try, the doc would skin me alive with one of her scalpels, and what was left of me Carter would chop into little pieces once she got back."

At that moment, Teal'c and one of the medics finally made it through the growing crowd. Jack quickly explained what happened. The medic's look of surprise quickly changed to professional concern.

Daniel was laid on the ground, and the medic began taking his vitals as he asked the archeologist to describe how he was feeling. Jack wanted to stay there with his friend, but there was too much work to be done. They had to get these people organized and through the gate.

"Will Daniel Jackson be well?" Teal'c asked Jack.

"Yeah, I think so. I _hope_ so. Damn, Teal'c. You should have seen it. He was actually holding the gate up. I can't believe he could lift that much weight."

Knowing that now was not the time for chitchat, the two men got busy helping with the natives. Many had been injured by collapsing buildings, and several were trapped in the rubble. Unfortunately, some were beyond help. Though everyone hated the thought of leaving the bodies behind, there wasn't enough time to worry about the dead.

Daniel looked around at all the activity. He was sitting upright now, his back against the Stargate pedestal. He was feeling a bit better, but the medic had insisted that he sit there and rest. The archeologist was feeling pretty useless now. He'd come here to open the gate and help rescue these people and, instead, was just sitting here, helping no one.

Daniel felt something tug at his sleeve. He turned to see a little girl of about five years old. Her thick black hair and dark eyes reminded him of Sha're.

"Did you make the Chaapa'ai not fall?" she asked. "Mama said you did."

"Um, yes, I did."

"Was it magic? The gods use magic to hurt people."

"No, it wasn't magic, and neither is what the bad people who said they were gods used. Those people use machines, things they made, to do the things that seemed like magic."

"Did you use a machine?"

Daniel considered lying to make things easier, but how could you look into the face of such innocence and lie?

"No, I used this." He tapped on the side of his head. "Something in my mind makes it possible for me to do things like that."

"Mama said that my papa and brother would have died if you hadn't made the Chaapa'ai not fall."

Daniel didn't know what to say to that. As it turned out, he didn't have to say a thing. The little girl abruptly gave him a quick hug, then scampered away.

Feeling a little bit better, Daniel turned his gaze to the volcano. What he saw brought him to his feet.

"Jack!" he yelled. "We're out of time!"

Jack spun around and watched in horrified fascination as the column rising from the volcano began to collapse. It rushed down the side of the volcano toward the village, a searing avalanche of volcanic material destroying everything in its way. Screaming in panic, the villagers ran, but there could be no escape from such a force of destruction.

But then, by some miracle, the pyroclastic flow came to a halt before reaching the village. Shaken by the near-miss, everyone just stared at it for a long moment.

"It's just like Pompeii," Daniel murmured, knowing that the first pyroclastic flow that had headed for the city stopped short of it. It was the second one that wiped out everything.

Knowing that another flow could happen at any minute, Daniel walked up to the Stargate, which was now hooked up to the Naquadah generator. Though the generator would provide power to the gate, it would not turn the ring. That would have to be done by hand, something for which they no longer had the time.

"Get back, Siler," he said.

The sergeant looked at him. "What?"

Ignoring the headache that he still had, Daniel began to turn the inner ring with his mind. Realizing what he was doing, Siler quickly backed up.

Upon hearing the Stargate, Jack turned to it. What he saw sent equal parts anger and worry sweeping through him.

"Dammit, Daniel," he cursed, stepping forward to stop his friend before he injured himself.

"Jack, don't," Jacob said. "He's doing what he has to. He knows that we could run out of time and luck at any second."

Knowing that Jacob was right but still wishing that he could stop Daniel from doing something that could harm him further, Jack watched tensely as the ring continued to turn.

Thanks to the practice he'd received on the Earth Stargate, Daniel was able to spin the ring quickly, though the worsening headache was making it progressively harder to concentrate. It seemed to him like an eternity before the final chevron locked into place, and the gate activated. A wave of dizziness washed over him, and he would have fallen if not for the strong arms that were suddenly holding him. He looked up into Jack's face.

"Daniel, you are one stubborn fool."

"Hey, it takes one to know one," Daniel shot back weakly.

"You got that right," Jack agreed. "Come on. Let's get you through the gate."

Daniel shook his head. "Not until everyone else is through. You might still need me."

"Daniel," Jack growled, seriously considering bodily throwing the archeologist through the gate.

As if sensing what the colonel was thinking, Daniel said, "Don't, Jack. You know I'm right."

Jack gave a mental sigh Yes, he did know that Daniel was right. Daniel was _always_ right, or at least almost always.

Knowing that he'd lost the argument, Jack helped Daniel sit on the ground far enough away from the Stargate that he wouldn't get trampled. He then took charge of getting the villagers through. Because the gate was now in a horizontal position, they couldn't hurry the people through in large numbers, but the fact that the gate would only remain open for thirty-eight minutes made it vital to get everyone through as fast as possible. Therefore, Jack sent Siler through first with special instructions for those at the Alpha Site. He gave them a few minutes to make the preparations, then he called to the villagers, telling them to dive into the gate three at a time, spacing the trips five seconds apart.

And so the minutes passed as the natives of the planet gradually went through. Those who were too old or disabled to jump through the gate themselves were lowered through by others. The people who had been seriously injured would be the last to go.

While all this was going on, rescuers and volunteers among the natives were frantically freeing those still trapped within damaged buildings. There was no time to worry about broken bones and other injuries as they dug out people buried under rubble.

There were only five minutes left before the gate would shut down when the last of the villagers who could walk under their own power went through. The quickly dwindling time forced the medics into to hurrying the injured through.

Daniel got to his feet with Jack's help and came over to the gate. Though he was feeling a little better, he was far from being all right.

"You're going next, Daniel, as soon as all the injured are through," Jack stated, his tone brooking no argument.

Daniel nodded, too tired to argue. Once the injured were through the only people left would be SG-1, SG-6, the Tok'ra and the remaining medics. It would only take them a few seconds to evacuate. It looked like they were all going to make it.

Two seconds after that thought passed through Daniel's mind, a horrendous roar made everyone spin around to look at the volcano. Their eyes widened as they saw another pyroclastic flow speed down the flanks of the volcano, heading straight toward them.

"Go, go, go!" Jack yelled. The three medics and the members of SG-6 each took hold of an injured native and, holding them in their arms to shelter them as much as possible, jumped two pairs at a time through the gate. Jacob and the other Tok'ra quickly followed them through.

Daniel, Jack and Teal'c looked over their shoulders and saw the volcanic avalanche bearing down on them with frightening speed.

"Oh, crap!" Jack yelled. He grabbed Daniel's arm and hurled the two of them into the wormhole, Teal'c right beside them. They flew out the other side into the waiting arms of the Alpha Site personnel, who caught them before they could hit the ground.

"Incoming!" Jack screamed.

Trained to react instantly at the sound of that word, everyone dove away from the gate and hit the dirt. Seconds later, ash, pumice and rocks spewed from the mouth of the Stargate. The flow cut off almost instantly as the wormhole collapsed.

Daniel, Jack and Teal'c rolled over and took a look at what had come through the gate with them. The entire area from the Stargate to a few feet beyond the DHD was covered by a several-inch-thick layer of superheated volcanic material. The tremendous heat drove everyone away from it.

Several people had received burns from the hot ash, but none appeared to be extremely serious. Those who were able to do so picked themselves up off the ground. Daniel tried, but didn't get very far.

"Daniel? How are you doing?" Jack asked, studying him in concern. "And don't tell me you're fine."

The archeologist smiled faintly. "Actually, I was going to say that I feel awful, but it'll pass."

"Uh huh. Well, the doc might have a thing or two to say about that."

"Jack, can't we just not tell her what happened? She'll put me back in the infirmary."

"Which may be where you belong. You probably did some more damage inside that stubborn head of yours. Now we're not going to be able to go home until that ash and stuff cools and is cleared away, so, in the meantime, you're going to find a bed and rest. I'd tell you to consider that an order, but it wouldn't make a difference with you."

"Okay," Daniel responded meekly.

Jack blinked in surprise and stared at him. "Okay?"

"Okay."

"You're not going to argue or anything?"

"Nope."

"All right, that has me really worried since I don't think that the reason you're not arguing is that you've suddenly developed some common sense in regards to yourself. Therefore, the reason has to be that you feel like you're dying and want to go off somewhere to be alone when it happens."

"I'm not dying, Jack. I'm just tired and not feeling well."

"You're sure."

"Positive."

"I'm taking your word on that, Daniel. So, if you die, I will be seriously pissed." He turned to their other teammate. "Teal'c, give Daniel some help over to the sleeping quarters and have a medic take a look at him again."

The Jaffa did as he was told, helping Daniel to his feet and offering a supporting arm to him in case he needed it. Daniel was able to walk the distance without aid, though his legs felt more than a bit rubbery.

"O'Neill is greatly concerned about you, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said once they'd reached the quarters where Daniel would be sleeping. "I, too, am concerned for your health."

Daniel looked up at him from his seat on the bed. "Thanks, Teal'c. I'll be fine. I just need to get some sleep."

Teal'c paused a moment, considering his words carefully. "Though I deeply admire and respect your willingness to risk your health and your life for the sake of others, I must tell you that your death would be a great loss, one which could not be replaced by another, neither in the fight against the Goa'uld nor in the lives of myself, O'Neill, Major Carter, and the others who care for you. For this reason, I must ask that you put greater value upon your own life, for it is a life that we value greatly."

Deeply touched by the Jaffa's sincere, softly spoken plea, Daniel said, "Teal'c, I've promised both Sam and Jack that I'll take more care, that I won't go rushing into situations that could get me killed without thinking about it first. I have every intention of dying of old age . . . though I kind of hope that the Cassandra we met in the future was joking about my hair."

A soft smile graced Teal'c's face. "I will go in search of a medic to attend to you."

"There's no need for that, Teal'c. I'll be fine after I get some sleep. Besides, Janet will be getting her hands on me soon enough."

Teal'c inclined his head and left the room. Daniel took off his shoes and laid down on the bed. It took only a couple of minutes for his exhaustion to pull him down into sleep.

* * *

Things were not looking good. All of Sam's attempts to start the hyperdrive had failed, the hyperspace window seemingly unable to stabilize enough for the ship to enter it. The ship's sensors had been unable to identify the contents of the cloud the ship was now inside, so she could only guess that the gasses within the cloud were preventing the hyperdrive emitters from transferring power at an even rate. Until that changed, the Prometheus was trapped, which meant that, unless the SGC or an ally found her, there was a very good chance that she'd die here.

Sam has spent the last few minutes talking with a hallucination of Daniel, who had told her that he was actually a part of her own subconscious mind speaking to her. Figuring that maybe her subconscious had something important to impart to her, she had decided to listen. Unfortunately, Daniel wasn't being of that much help. He was trying to convince her that she should be checking out the gas cloud that the Prometheus was trapped inside, which Sam thought was a ridiculous waste of time when she was in the middle of a crisis.

"Come on. It's-it's a chance to see something rare and exciting up close! Seize the moment!" Daniel told her animatedly.

"Seize the moment?"

"I'm just saying it's-it's-it's new, something we've never encountered before," his toned softened, "and you're ignoring it. Does that sound like you?"

Sam didn't know what to say. Daniel was right about that. Normally, she _would_ be trying to find out more about the cloud.

Sam's pain and exhaustion reasserted themselves at that moment.

"Daniel, I can't even think straight, let alone stay awake," she told him.

Daniel knelt at her feet, a gentle hand resting on her arm. Sam looked down into his eyes and saw the man she knew so well, the loving, caring friend who would do anything for her.

"Sam, you have to check this out," he insisted. "Trust me, it's important."

"Daniel. . . ."

"Sam, you're not alone. There may be no one else on this ship with you, but you're not alone."

Sam searched his eyes, then smiled, knowing what he was saying and remembering how she felt earlier. "I know, Daniel."

Daniel got up and walked away. When Sam turned around, he was gone. Pondering his words, she got back to work.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

There was a lot for Daniel to do after he woke up from his nap. Scared, confused, in shock, and grieving, the natives had all been put in an area at the edge of the base, except for the injured, who were being treated by the medical personnel stationed on base and those who had gone on the mission. Daniel took it upon himself to calm the villagers down and explain what was going to happen to them. All of them knew what he had done with the Stargate and listened to him with the same unwavering attention that they'd probably given to the Goa'uld who had ruled them. But there was no fear of him, and not one of them treated him like he was some kind of god, for which Daniel was very grateful. He spent hours with them, learning about their lives and their civilization, listening to some of their personal stories, getting to know them as individuals. He also did something else for them.

Because of the superheated volcanic material all over the Stargate and DHD, the gate could not be used. Someone had suggested washing the stuff away, but not only would it have caused a whole lot of steam, there was also concern that the wet ash would get inside the DHD and damage components. Another had suggested using fire extinguishers to cool off the stuff, but Sergeant Siler and a couple of other techs were concerned about the effect that the sudden change in temperature would have on the Stargate and the DHD. As it is, they were already concerned about what damage the tremendous heat was doing. Therefore, everyone decided that they would have to wait for the stuff to cool on its own, at least enough that it would be less dangerous to handle.

Because of this, it was up to Daniel and his encyclopedic memory of planets the SGC had visited to decide where the best place would be to send the refugees. Yes, it could have waited until after they'd contacted the SGC, but he didn't want them to have to wait any longer than necessary before being moved off the base and to a new home. Also, because of the time he'd spent getting to know the people, who called themselves Eloanes, he felt that he was the most qualified to figure out where the best place for them to go would be.

Not wanting everyone to worry, Jacob had contacted the Tok'ra base with the communications device that the Tok'ra operatives had and asked them to pass on the message to the SGC that everybody was all right. Even so, the SGC was glad to hear from the Alpha Site when they were finally able to dial out the next morning. Upon getting a status report, Hammond sent through men in suits designed to withstand high temperatures to clear away the remainder of the ash and other volcanic debris. Some technicians and equipment were also sent to test the Stargate and the DHD to make sure that they were undamaged. After that, those who needed further medical attention were transported to the SGC. Jack wanted Daniel to go, too, but he refused. He had developed a rapport with the Eloanes and wanted to guide them to their new home.

Remembering his own desire to help the Enkarrans as much as he could, Jack didn't object too much about Daniel's insistence, though he was worried about his friend. Daniel had gotten no sleep since his initial nap, and, as far as Jack knew, that nap had been all the sleep the archeologist had gotten since before all the stuff with the Prometheus and everything else began. Jack also wondered if Daniel was still feeling the effects of lifting the Stargate. There had been several times when the colonel was tempted to tie the younger man to a bed in order to force him to rest, but the fact that Daniel could easily break the ropes would have made it an exercise in futility. Jack had then toyed with the idea of spiking Daniel's water with a sedative, but none of the medical personnel were willing to go along with the plan. Jack had overheard one of them mutter that they weren't about to mess with a guy who could psychically bench press a Stargate. That had led to Jack grumbling to himself about how everyone was now more afraid of an archeologist than of a superior officer who used to be in Black Ops.

If Jack had known that it took quite a few hours for Daniel's headache to go away, even with the painkillers he was given, he'd have tossed the archeologist through the Stargate along with the rest of the injured, which was the reason why Daniel didn't tell him. The headache and the rest of his symptoms did go away eventually, so there was nothing to worry about, as far as he was concerned.

Once everything was taken care of in regards to clearing away the volcanic debris and transporting the wounded, Daniel sent his list of proposed planets to the SGC so that they could send UAVs through to make sure that conditions were still acceptable on the planets. Normally, Daniel would have gone to the SGC to oversee the operation, but he knew that the instant he stepped through the gate, Janet would sink her claws into him and not let go until she was satisfied that he was okay . . . and maybe not even then. So, he remained at the Alpha Site, spending more time with the Eloanes.

Another thing Daniel ended up doing during that time was something he had neither anticipated nor welcomed. It turned out that the Jaffa who were there at the Alpha Site knew all about him, including the most recent use of his abilities. The way they acted toward him told the archeologist very clearly that, in spite of Bra'tac's belief that the rebel Jaffa would get past their worshipful reaction to his abilities, many of them still viewed Daniel as something akin to a deity.

In an attempt to make it clear that he was only a man, Daniel spent a lot of time talking with them about ordinary things, asking about their families, telling them a little about himself, particularly things that would show that he was just as fallible as they were. The Jaffa were not used to talking about things like that, being very private individuals, but, in time, some of them opened up a little. Daniel's experiences with Teal'c helped him a lot. In fact, Teal'c himself was a big help, giving Daniel advice on what to say and not say. He had offered to join Daniel during the time the archeologist spent with the rebel Jaffa, but the linguist believed that it would be best if he did this alone.

Daniel was happy with the results of his efforts. The Jaffa, not accustomed to speaking in such a way with someone who was considered to be a superior being, eventually began to treat him more like a friend and fellow warrior and less like someone to be revered like a god. However, Daniel failed to see something else that was happening. Jack and Teal'c did not.

Jack sat on a crate and watched Daniel laughing at something one of the Jaffa had said. The Jaffa gave Daniel a big smile as several others looked on, also smiling. Teal'c joined the colonel and watched as well.

"You know, I've seen Daniel make friends with people and creatures that wanted to tear his throat out only a few minutes earlier, and it never ceases to amaze me," Jack remarked. "But what I'm seeing there is something a whole lot more."

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed. "There is friendship but also deep veneration."

Jack nodded. "Not long after I got my wings, I was put under the command of Colonel Mac Fulbright. He was an extraordinary man. Strong, intelligent, dedicated, and a brilliant tactician. He really cared about his men, would get to know each and every one of them personally, invite them to his house for holiday parties and weekend BBQs in the summer. We all loved him for it, and we would do absolutely _anything_ for him. We'd follow him into hell without a second's hesitation, not just because he was our C.O., but because he was our friend, and we admired and respected him so much.

"Colonel Fulbright's plane got shot down behind enemy lines one day. The brass thought it was too risky for us to go in and get him, but there was no way that we were going to leave him out there. So, we went in anyway." Jack smiled. "Got him out, too, though three of us sustained injuries, and the colonel himself had a bad leg wound. We almost got court-martialed for that one because we'd gone against the decision of our superiors, but the colonel stepped forward and defended us, and we got out of it with the equivalent of a slap on the wrist. The leg wound made it necessary for the colonel to retire, but even after he was no longer our C.O., he still invited us over to his house for parties." He nodded his head at Daniel and the Jaffa. "The look I see on the faces of those Jaffa is the same thing I saw on the faces of the guys who served under Colonel Fulbright."

Teal'c nodded. "It is as you say. The Goa'uld treat Jaffa as if they are merely tools to be used or cast away however they see fit. Praise is seldom given, and punishment is without mercy. They give us neither respect nor compassion. This is how the Jaffa are accustomed to being treated by beings that they consider to be superior. The rebel Jaffa know of Daniel Jackson's power, how he has destroyed an enemy Al'Kesh and lifted a Stargate with his mind. These things make him seem like a god to them. Yet, instead of acting as the Goa'uld do, he gives them friendship and treats them as respected equals. Instead of this lowering their opinion of him, it heightens it further, for they feel a connection to him that no Jaffa ever felt toward a Goa'uld."

"They'd follow him into hell and never think twice."

"Indeed they would, O'Neill."

"How do you think this is going to affect things?"

"That I do not know."

* * *

Daniel finally got back the reports on the planets, which enabled him to choose one that he thought would be the best place for the Eloanes. Though it was late afternoon there at the Alpha Site, on the Eloanes' new homeworld it was several hours earlier in the day, so Daniel decided it would be best to move them now. Once the refugees were settled, he and his teammates would be heading back to the SGC.

Daniel was packing up his gear when Jacob came up to him.

"So, you're off to take them to their new home?" the Tok'ra asked.

"Uh huh. Hopefully, it won't be too much of an adjustment for them." Daniel looked over at the Eloanes. "They've lost a lot. Their homes, family, friends, their whole world. They're never going to be able to go back. I found out that there were other villages around the volcano. I really hope that those people managed to get far enough away or that their villages were spared in the eruption. We'll never know." He nodded at the refugees. "_They'll_ never know. All they'll be able to do is hope that the rest of their people are okay." His voice grew even sadder. "One of the men was betrothed to a woman in a neighboring village. He'll never see her again."

Jacob rested a hand on Daniel's shoulder. "We can't save everyone, Danny, no matter how much we may want to. But right there," he pointed at the Eloanes, "right there are four-hundred and fifty-six people who would not be alive now if it wasn't for us, if it wasn't for _you_. That's something to be pretty damn proud of."

Daniel smiled a little. "Yeah, I guess it is."

Jacob studied the younger man's face. "When's the last time you got any sleep?"

"A while, but I'm all right. I'm used to long hours with no sleep."

Jacob shook his head in exasperation. Daniel was just like Sam, never knowing when to just stop and relax.

"Are you staying here?" the archeologist asked.

"Yes. I need to get back to work on the Telchak project. It's too important to delay any longer. But I'm counting on you guys to keep me updated on your search for Sam. Hopefully, the Tok'ra will have a ship available soon."

Daniel's gaze lifted to the clear, cloudless sky. "It's been over a day and a half since it first happened. I just hope that she's all right."

"I'd be willing to bet that she is. My daughter's pretty capable when it comes to taking care of herself. She always has been."

"Yes, she is, better than I am." Daniel returned his gaze to Jacob. "Well, I'd better get going. It'll take us several hours to get the Eloanes settled in their new home."

Jacob shook the archeologist's hand. "Take care, Daniel. Don't go weightlifting any Stargates any time soon."

"I'll try to limit my weightlifting to the base gym, Jacob."

Jacob watched the archeologist leave, hoping that his daughter would yet again live up to his confidence in her.

* * *

It was after five a.m. Colorado time when Jack, Daniel and Teal'c exited the Earth Stargate. Because of the early morning hour, General Hammond wasn't in yet, so it would be several hours before the debriefing took place, which was just fine with everyone, especially Daniel. He was in desperate need of sleep. He also really needed a long, hot shower. Jack had more than once said the same thing about himself. And there was something else Daniel needed to do before he could allow himself to rest. He needed to look for Sam again.

Unfortunately, the three men could not bypass the post-mission physical. Daniel had been hoping that it wouldn't be Janet who was on duty, but no such luck. The archeologist suspected that she was there so early for the sole purpose of torturing him with more tests, which is exactly what she did. She insisted on new scans, an EEG and bloodwork, totally ignoring Daniel's plea to just let him go home and sleep.

After being tested, scanned, poked and prodded yet again, Janet informed him that everything looked okay.

"Good. Then I can go home," Daniel said, hopping off the exam table.

"Not so fast. I want you to remain in the infirmary for a few hours for observation," Janet said.

"For what reason?" the archeologist asked. "You just finished telling me that I'm all right."

"Yes, it's true that the scans didn't show any new intracerebral hemorrhaging or other damage, but you were in extreme pain, as well as suffering other physical symptoms. Pain is the body's way of saying that something is wrong."

"How about if I just promise to stay on base?" When Janet started to protest, Daniel hurriedly continued. "Janet, please. I can't stay in the infirmary."

The doctor heard the desperate plea in his voice and looked at him closely. "Why?"

"Because . . . because I have to find Sam," Daniel replied.

Janet frowned in puzzlement. "Find Sam? You mean you want to join the SG teams that are searching planets for the Prometheus?"

"No. I'd be of little use out there, just another pair of eyes and ears. But, here, I can . . . I can try other things. Twice, I've attempted to use my abilities to find her, and I've managed to see some things. I need to keep trying."

"Daniel, you're exhausted. How long has it been since you've slept?"

"Um . . . I'm not really sure. Going from the time here to what it was on P9X-898, then to the Alpha Site, then to P8R-645, then back here again, I am way beyond jetlag." He looked at his watch. "Uh . . . it's been a while."

Janet's eyes narrowed. "How long is a while?"

"Almost twenty-four hours."

"And how much sleep have you gotten since you came into work two days ago?"

Daniel licked his lips, knowing that he was in trouble. "Around, uh, three, four hours . . . maybe."

Janet gave a tight little nod, the glint in her eyes a clear indication of her displeasure. "So, in the past fifty hours or so you've gotten perhaps three hours of sleep?"

"Around that. I've gone that long with not much sleep before Janet."

The doctor cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, and have you also played catch with a thirty-two-ton Stargate before?"

Yep, he was right. He was in big, big trouble. He gave a sigh, awaiting the descent of her wrath. "No, I can't say that I have."

There was a moment of silence before it came.

"Daniel, for a man who is a certified genius, you show an unbelievable lack of any form of intelligence when it comes to your own health and welfare."

Ouch. Okay, so he probably deserved that.

"If I get an ulcer, your name will be on it."

Double ouch. That one had made him feel about two feet tall.

"If _Colonel O'Neill_ gets an ulcer, it will have your name on it."

Okay, now that was going too far. It was bad enough that Jack blamed him for his grey hair.

"Janet, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't do this deliberately. When I came into work two days ago, I wasn't intending to rescue hundreds of people from a volcano, psychically weightlift a Stargate, relocate those same several hundred people to a new home, and spend hours making friends with a bunch of Jaffa who want to turn me into a god. And I didn't know that the Prometheus, with one of my best friends onboard, was going to disappear, leaving me as possibly the only person who can find it."

Janet heard the strain in Daniel's voice and decided to back off, feeling a little sorry about the ulcer comment, which, of course, had been a lie since ulcers weren't really caused by stress, despite popular belief. "All right. I'm sorry. I know that you've had to deal with a lot over these past two days. I'm just concerned about you. I'm not just your doctor, Daniel, I'm your friend, and, as your friend _and_ your doctor, I'm saying that you need to slow down and let yourself rest, both mentally and physically."

Daniel rubbed a hand over his face wearily. "I know, Janet, and I will. I just need to try and find Sam, or at least learn if she's still okay. I wouldn't be able to sleep until I do."

Janet let out a sigh. "Okay, but, after you do, I am ordering you to get some sleep. I will inform General Hammond and your teammates that they are not to disturb you for the next six hours. You need a lot more sleep than that, but it will probably have to wait until tonight." She thought of something. "How long has it been since you've eaten?"

"We ate on P8R-645 a couple of hours before coming home. I really don't think I could eat anything now. I'm too tired."

"All right, but, as soon as you get up, I want you to eat a full meal with plenty of protein. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good."

Daniel gave her a tired smile. "Thanks, Janet."

A short while later, Daniel was in his quarters, freshly showered and shaved. As soon as he sat on the bed, his mind and body started screaming at him that he needed sleep. But he could not let himself rest until after he tried to find Sam again. During all this time that he'd been off-world, anything could have happened to her and the Prometheus.

Lying down on the bed, Daniel slowed his brainwave pattern to the low theta frequency at which he'd had his previous visions. Instead of trying to force the issue this time, he attempted a new tactic, letting his mind float as he kept the thought of Sam within it, seeking the feeling of her presence.

All at once, Daniel found himself inside the Prometheus. Sam was walking down the hallway ahead of him.

"Sam!" he called.

The major paused. She looked around as if she had heard or felt something.

"Is somebody here?" she asked.

"Sam, it's me. It's Daniel. I'm right here."

Sam kept looking around, turning in all directions. "Hello! Who's there?"

Daniel realized that Sam could neither see nor hear him, but she was feeling him, or at least feeling something that made her realize she was not alone. This reminded him of the incident with the crystal skull on P7X-377, when his body was out of phase and nobody could see or hear him. Both Sam and Teal'c had sensed his presence somehow.

"Sam, I know you can't hear me, but I'm here," he told her. "We'll find you."

An expression of confusion and uncertainty filled Sam's face. "Daniel?" she queried hesitantly.

Daniel's feeling of triumph was cut short as the vision vanished. Desperately, he tried to get it back, but it was no use. Angry and frustrated, he lay on the bed for several moments, staring at the ceiling. Perhaps if he got some sleep, he'd have more success later.

Decision made, Daniel closed his eyes again and guided himself into a deep sleep.

* * *

Sam stood, unmoving, for several seconds after the feeling that someone was there had faded. For a moment, she could have sworn that it was Daniel she was feeling. Once before she had felt like this, when Daniel was thrown out of phase by the crystal skull. All during the time that they couldn't see him, she had felt as if he was still there. What she had just felt, however, was different, stronger in a way, but more . . . distant. Was it possible that he was somehow psychically reaching out to her? He hadn't demonstrated that kind of ability before, but that didn't mean that he couldn't do it.

Sam hoped that she was right since it gave her comfort to believe that Daniel was searching for her in that way. He might even succeed.

Her spirits and her hopes a little higher, Sam continued on her way.

* * *

"Sam!"

The sound of Daniel's voice was still echoing in the room as he sat bolt upright, gasping for air. As his senses came back to him, he ran a hand over his face, thinking about the dream he'd just had. Something told him that it had been more than just a dream. If that was true. . . .

Daniel swung his legs around and hurriedly put on his shoes. He left his quarters and headed straight to Hammond's office.

"Doctor Jackson? Aren't you supposed to be getting some sleep?" the man asked.

"I was, sir, but I had another dream. General, something is wrong with the hull of the Prometheus. It's corroding or something. It's going to fail if something isn't done. I-I don't know if this is something that's happening now or if it's in the future. I couldn't tell. But, regardless, the hull is going to fail."

"I'm afraid that there's nothing we can do, Doctor Jackson," Hammond said regretfully. "The Tok'ra still have no ships available, and the Asgard are not responding to our calls."

Daniel started to pace. "I'm even more positive that Sam is alone on the Prometheus. I keep thinking about that alien ship that I saw. Maybe whoever was onboard took the rest of the crew prisoner, and Sam got away somehow. Now, she's trapped on the Prometheus, which is disabled. There's something else, though, something I can't quite put my finger on. It's like. . . ." He sighed in frustration. "I don't know."

Hammond got up from his chair and came around the desk. "I understand your frustration, Doctor Jackson. A great many men and women who are under my command are lost out there, and I have no way of retrieving them. All we can do right now is wait."

Daniel halted, an expression of determination on his face. "Maybe there _is_ something more that we can do, something _I_ can do."

"What do you mean?"

"I'd like to contact the Tok'ra, sir."

"For what reason?"

"Jacob said that all of their ships are on missions now. I have to wonder how important those missions are, if they'd be willing to make a little . . . trade."

Hammond frowned. "Trade?"

Daniel turned and looked at him. "They want me, General. They want to use my skills on missions. I told Jacob that I'd help them out, but only for missions that I thought were important enough to take the risk. What if I remove that qualifier, tell them that I'll go on whatever mission they want me to as long as it doesn't interfere with a mission for the SGC? In exchange, they'll pull one of their ships off a present mission and go find the Prometheus."

"I could not allow that, Doctor Jackson," the general said. "There is no telling how much danger you would be putting yourself in. This mission you just returned from proves that you must take great care in the use of your abilities. Doctor Fraiser said that you were very fortunate that you didn't sustain more damage."

"I doubt that they'd have me moving Stargates around."

"Nevertheless, I cannot give my permission for that."

"But—"

"That is my final word on the matter, Doctor Jackson. I will not allow you to sell yourself to the Tok'ra."

Daniel felt his desperation take hold. "And what if Sam and all of the other crew of the Prometheus die because you said no? Will you still think it was the right decision?"

General Hammond did not answer. If every member of the Prometheus crew died because of his decision, he would never forgive himself. And he knew that the man standing before him would bear the guilt in his own heart as well, though it would not have been his fault. Yet how could he be party to the archeologist giving himself to the Tok'ra for them to use as they pleased? It would be unconscionable.

"I'll consider the matter, Doctor Jackson," Hammond finally said, knowing that he'd have a tough decision to make now.

"Thank you," Daniel responded. Then he turned and walked out of the office, leaving Hammond with the heavy burden of deciding what he was going to do.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

"So, did you actually think that I'd agree to let you go through with such a harebrained plan?"

Daniel lifted his head from his hands and looked at Jack, who was presently standing in the doorway of Daniel's office. He'd been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he hadn't felt the colonel's approach.

"What?"

"Don't play dumb, Daniel. Just answer the question. Did you think that I'd let you sell your soul to the Tok'ra in exchange for the use of one of their ships?"

"I didn't think about it. It was a sudden idea."

"You sure seem to do that a lot, don't you, come up with these insane ideas, then go off and do them without considering what I might have to say about it."

Daniel heard the anger in Jack's voice. "Jack—"

Jack held up his finger. "No, Daniel. Not this time. You are going to hear me out. What is it with you and this self-sacrifice complex that you've got going on? Every year you seem to find more ways to get killed or nearly killed rushing in to save someone, regardless of whether or not you should. You tell me that you don't want to die, yet you seem bound and determined to get yourself killed one way or another."

"Jack, the Tok'ra wouldn't deliberately put me in an extremely risky situation. They'd know that, if they got me killed, they and the SGC would lose my abilities."

"Yeah, and what about if they make you do too much, and you end up frying your own brain? Oh, sure. Maybe you wouldn't die. You'd just be a mindless vegetable for the rest of your life. With the exception of Jacob, the Tok'ra don't care about you personally, Daniel. You're just a . . . a commodity to them."

"Did Hammond tell you about my dream?" Daniel asked. "Did he tell you that the hull of the Prometheus is corroding and, sooner or later, will fail?"

"Yes, he told me."

Daniel arose from his desk and moved around to the side, glaring at Jack over the top of it. "Then what do you expect me to do, Jack? It may be within my power to save Sam and all the rest of the crew, hundreds of men and women who fight beside us against the Goa'uld. You want me to just turn my back and do nothing?"

"No, I expect you to wait and see if another alternative presents itself before leaping into making a deal that makes me ill just thinking about it!"

Fury erupted inside Daniel. "Dammit, Jack! Don't you dare take away my ability to save someone I care about!"

The monitor on Daniel's desk suddenly exploded with a shower of sparks. At the same time, everything else on his desk went flying through the air to smash against the walls and bookcases. Dead silence followed.

"Oh, God," Daniel whispered, stunned and horrified by what he'd just done. He backed away from the desk.

"Um . . . that was. . . ." Jack's voice trailed off. Okay, so what in the hell could he say about this?

"I could have hurt you."

Jack looked at Daniel, who had backed up to the wall, his face pale, wide eyes staring at the destruction he had unintentionally wrought. Jack immediately stepped toward him.

"No!" Daniel held out a hand as if ward Jack off. "Get out of here, Jack. Just leave. Please," he begged. "Before I. . . ."

"Before you what, Daniel? Hurt me?"

Daniel's eyes clamped shut tightly.

Jack took a slow step closer. "You didn't hurt me, Daniel. You're not _going_ to hurt me. That would never happen."

"How can you be so sure?" Daniel asked in a small, scared voice that tore Jack apart to hear.

"Because I know you, that's why. I know that, no matter what happened, you would never harm me or anyone else you cared about."

A single tear escaped from beneath Daniel's eyelids. "God, Jack. I don't want this," he whispered.

Ignoring the earlier command to stay away, Jack strode forward and took hold of Daniel. Feeling the tremors that were shuddering through his friend's body, he pulled the man into his embrace.

"I know, Danny. I know," Jack murmured soothingly, speaking the name he hadn't used in that way in so very many years.

A small part of Daniel wanted to hold on and let his friend comfort him, but the bigger part wouldn't let him. It had been so long since Jack had comforted him like this that he had learned not to rely on or even hope for it, no matter how hard life kicked him in the teeth. He could not start to depend on it now.

Daniel only let Jack hold him for a few seconds, then he pulled out of the man's arms and moved away, wiping the tears he'd shed off his face.

"I'm sorry," he said in a low voice.

"For what? Yelling at me, blowing up your monitor, or letting yourself cry?"

Daniel drew in a shaky breath. "All of them, I guess."

"Well, in regards to the monitor and the mess you made of your office, I'll just have to remember in the future not to seriously tick you off. I'll draft a memo to the rest of the personnel. I'm sure they'd like to be informed of the new rule. As for the crying . . . I think you're entitled, Daniel. Your whole life has been turned upside down, and you're understandably scared by it all. I cannot even comprehend the weight of such a responsibility, to know that you can destroy with a mere thought. You're also exhausted. You couldn't have gotten more than a couple of hours' sleep this time. On top of all that is this thing with Carter, which you're scared about, too." Jack paused. "I'm sorry about what I said, Daniel. It was wrong. I don't have the right to deny you the opportunity to save her and the others. If you feel that you have to make that offer to the Tok'ra, I won't stop you. I'm just asking that you give it a little more time. Please?"

Daniel did not answer for a moment, then he gave a nod. Jack relaxed a bit.

"Um . . . what about me yelling at you?" Daniel asked.

"That was covered under the apology I gave you. Besides, I'm man enough to take it." Jack cast his gaze about the room. "Now, about this mess. . . ."

"Yeah. I guess I'm going to be busy for a while."

"I'd love to hear the story you're going to tell when you put in your requisition for a new monitor."

"That it fried from overuse?"

"Well, maybe if it was _Carter's_ monitor."

A smile flitted across Daniel's face. "Do you think that, if I switched monitors with her, she'd be interrogated less when she asks for a replacement?"

"Could be."

Daniel shook his head. "It probably wouldn't work. One of her assistants would notice the switch."

Jack looked down at the monitor. There was a gaping hole in the screen, and the case was severely blackened. "Nah. I think you can get away with it."

Daniel's smile grew a little. "It's a good thing I didn't have any artifacts on my desk."

"Whew! What a relief!" Jack said with mock exaggeration.

A thought occurred to Daniel, and he started searching through the mess on the floor. He found one of the items he was looking for and was relieved to see that it was still intact. He set aside the framed photo of his wife and resumed his search. When he found the other item, he froze. The glass covering the picture of SG-1 had shattered. A large, jagged tear marred the photo, right across the image of Sam. He touched the photo, heedless of the sharp pieces of glass.

All at once, a cascade of images bombarded Daniel's mind. He saw the Prometheus surrounded by glowing ribbons of color, its hull translucent, as if it was only partly in that dimension. An image of Osiris with a ribbon device flashed like lightning through his brain. He saw Sam running in fear, blood on her face and leg. Then there was a huge battle on the ground, SGC forces fighting to survive against a large force of Jaffa. Daniel saw Jack fall to the ground, and there was a brief cry as someone's life was snuffed out. The scene changed again, and he was witnessing a battle over a frozen wasteland between ships from Earth and Goa'uld craft. Still more images came, too fast and too many for him to see, filling his mind with sights, and sounds, and smells, and sensations. . . .

"Daniel!"

Daniel's mind was jerked back to the here and now. A sharp pain made him look down at his hand. There was blood all over it. The archeologist stared at it dumbly.

Jack grabbed the injured hand and wrapped his handkerchief around it to staunch the flow of blood. He looked into his friend's eyes. "Daniel, what the hell just happened?"

"I-I-I don't know. I had a . . . a vision. But it was . . . there were so many things all jumbled together. Too much. I couldn't make sense of it all."

"Well, come on. We've got to get those cuts treated. Doc Fraiser's gonna just _love_ this."

"Unscheduled off-world activation," came the announcement over the P.A.

"Crap!" Jack exclaimed. "Talk about lousy timing. Daniel, go on to the infirmary. I'll see what this is all about."

Daniel wanted to go to the control room as well, just in case it was a message from the Prometheus, but his hand was really hurting now and was bleeding like crazy, so that needed to be taken care of first.

Jack was right. Janet was not thrilled to see what Daniel had done to his hand. She took pity on him, however, when she saw the slightly shell-shocked look in his eyes. As she took care of cleaning and stitching the cuts, she asked what happened. Daniel told her, knowing that, one way or another, she'd find out anyway.

"Your anger released the power?" she asked gently.

"Yeah. It really scared me. I thought I had this thing under control. I had no idea something like that could happen. Jack was being unreasonable, and I . . . kind of blew up. Well, actually, it was the monitor that blew up."

"I doubt it was just the anger, Daniel. You are extremely sleep-deprived. That was probably a big factor in you losing control like that. So, what was the colonel being unreasonable about this time?"

"He didn't want me to do something that might help Sam and the Prometheus."

"What did you want. . . ."

Janet didn't finish her sentence, for, just then, Jack walked into the infirmary. He headed straight over to where she and Daniel were.

"So, is he going to live, Doc?" he asked.

"I believe so. It's a good thing that it was his left hand, though. It'll be too sore to do much of anything with for a few days."

"Well, I have some good news." He turned to Daniel. "The Tok'ra have a ship available. It'll take them a while to get to the search area, but they're on their way."

A relieved smile brightened Daniel's features. "That's great."

"Things are looking up, Daniel."

The archeologist nodded. "Yes, they are, and I have this feeling now that Sam and the Prometheus are going to be all right."

* * *

Things were getting crazier and more desperate by the moment. First, Sam learns that the gasses of the cloud were corroding the ship's hull. Then she sees that little girl again and is visited a second time by the Teal'c hallucination, who suggests that everything she's experiencing is an illusion created by the aliens to find out about the Prometheus' technology. After that, while venting the pressurized atmosphere from one of the sections of the ship in an attempt to push the Prometheus out of the cloud, she nearly blows the child, or the hallucination of the child . . . or whatever, out into space. Then she bumps into Hallucination Daniel again, who excitedly tells her his latest theory, which is that the gas cloud is actually a sentient being. That one had thrown Sam for a loop since it sounded more like something that the real Daniel would suggest rather than an idea coming from her own subconscious mind.

Sam looked down at the little girl who was walking beside her as they made their way to the mess hall. Could Daniel be right? Could this little girl be the physical personification of an alien creature that exists in the form of a gigantic gas cloud? Sam supposed that it wasn't impossible for the cloud to be alive. They'd already encountered creatures that were made of pure energy and another creature that could live inside the memory banks of a computer. Why not one that was a humongous cloud of gas?

_'Daniel, you would be so proud of me,'_ Sam thought to herself, hoping that she'd survive long enough to tell her friend what she had been thinking.

* * *

It had now been four days since the Prometheus disappeared, and everyone at the SGC was getting progressively more concerned, especially Sam's teammates. Daniel, Jack and Teal'c were now in the briefing room with Hammond after finding out the latest news. The Tok'ra had just completed an initial search of the Prometheus' planned route and found no sign of the ship at any of the designated cool-down coordinates. They were now expanding their search, conducting long-range scans of several systems near the route home.

"Did they check the gas cloud?" Daniel asked Hammond.

"Yes, they did, but there is no sign of the Prometheus in that area, and their sensors are not picking up anything within the cloud, though they are having some trouble getting readings for some reason."

Daniel frowned deeply.

"What is it, Doctor Jackson?"

"I just have a strong feeling that the Prometheus is inside that cloud. One of the images I saw could have been of the ship within it."

Jack was now also frowning. "So, Daniel thinks that the Prometheus is in that cloud, but the Tok'ra can't detect anything inside it. Maybe there's something about the cloud that is fooling the sensors."

Hammond nodded. "That is, of course, a possibility."

"Sam told me that the cloud has unusual properties," Daniel informed them. "It isn't like anything else that has ever been found by us."

"Ah, well, no _wonder_ she just had to go see it," Jack said.

"Sir, I'd like to attempt to reach Sam again," Daniel told Hammond.

"Are you sure that's wise? You said that the last vision you had was pretty intense."

"That was different. What I saw that last time were images of the future. I'm going to try to see what's happening now, maybe contact Sam. The last time I tried, she felt me somehow, though she couldn't see or hear me. Maybe I can break through to her this time."

Hammond considered it, then gave a nod. "All right, Doctor Jackson, but, if possible, I'd like you to do it here, just in case you have difficulties."

"I can try."

Daniel closed his eyes and slowed his brainwave pattern to where he needed it to be. Then he again went in search of Sam. This time, however, he kept the gas cloud in his mind, concentrating on it.

All at once, he saw it, huge and breathtakingly beautiful, a bright spot of color in the blackness of space. He took himself inside it, trying to find Sam. But, instead, he found something else, an awareness of a vast, utterly alien presence. He felt the presence touch his mind curiously.

"Who are you?" he asked but received no answer.

Then Daniel saw the Prometheus, along with another ship, the same ship he'd seen in his earlier vision. Daniel attempted to find Sam, but the image began to fade. Then, all at once, he felt the presence again. Thousands of images, words and feelings flooded into his mind in a matter of seconds. With a gasp, he opened his eyes.

"What did you see, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked.

"I was right. The Prometheus _is_ inside that cloud." He met Jack's gaze. "And I think I know why the Tok'ra couldn't detect it."


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

Sam watched Grace blowing bubbles. She envied the child's carefree attitude and wished that she could share it. Sam was out of ideas. She didn't know what else to try. The ship's hull was gradually being eaten away by the corrosive gasses of the cloud, every attempt to create a hyperspace window had failed, and the sub-light engines still wouldn't work, probably also because of the cloud. According to the computers' calculations, she didn't have much time left before the hull breached.

"Wanna try?" Grace asked.

Sam just shook her head.

"It's fun."

Sam thought back to her own childhood. "I remember when I was a little girl I used to wonder how a bubble could exist. You see there's this thing called surface tension, when molecules bind together in a certain way—"

"Boring!" Grace interrupted. She walked over to Sam and held the bubble wand up to her mouth. "Here. Just try it," she insisted.

Giving into the wishes of the girl, Sam took the wand and blew a stream of bubbles.

"See? Fun."

Sam smiled at her. "Yeah."

Grace looked at Sam, her expression suddenly dead serious and much older than the child she appeared to be. "He's still looking for you, you know."

"Who? Who is?"

"He's special, different from you and the others."

"Grace, who are you talking about?"

"He knows now."

"I don't understand."

Grace looked at her wisely. "You will." Then she disappeared.

Right after that, Sam was visited by the hallucination of Jack, who, among other things, told her that she needed to get off her butt and do something. The problem was that Sam still didn't know what she could do to get herself out of this mess.

No sooner had that visitation ended when the ship suddenly started shaking. Sam hurriedly went to investigate. Alarms were going off as she came onto the bridge. The monitors showed that an inner hull breach was imminent. She had run out of time.

The major looked over and saw Grace again. The little girl was still playing with her bubbles. Sparks flew everywhere as electrical circuits began to overload.

Deciding that enough was enough, Sam asked, "What do you want?"

"What do you mean?" Grace asked in return.

"Whoever you are, I know why everyone else keeps showing up. Why are you here? What do you want from me?"

"I don't want anything, but _you_ do. Then the traveler in the dark thanks you for your tiny spark. How could he see where to go if you did not twinkle so?"

As Grace resumed blowing her bubbles, Sam's eyes were drawn to them. All at once, like a blinding flash, it hit her. She just hoped that it wasn't too late.

Running to the operations desk, Sam sat down and frantically began typing as Grace watched her.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" the child asked.

"It's complicated."

"Try me."

"I'm going to try and save myself with a bubble," Sam explained.

"How?"

"The hyperdrive won't fully engage because of the cloud, but maybe it doesn't have to. If I can dial down the power flow from the hyperdrive emitter, theoretically, I should be able to cause a partial shift into hyperspace, essentially taking the ship out of the cloud's space-time, hopefully just enough to eliminate its effects on the sub-light engines."

"Neat."

"Yeah."

Grace caught her eyes and again assumed that expression of great wisdom. "Goodbye, Sam. Thank you. We've learned a lot from you. And from him, too."

Sam stopped what she was doing and stared at the girl. "What? Who's 'we'?"

Grace smiled. "Don't worry. He'll tell you."

Having no more time for riddles, Sam turned her chair to the engine controls. She glanced back over her shoulder to find that Grace was gone. Figuring that the hallucination had served its purpose, Sam activated the hyperdrive.

The engine came to life, shifting the Prometheus slightly outside the space-time of the cloud. Sam returned to the bridge and took a seat in Major Gant's chair, engaging the sub-light engines. A moment later, the ship began moving forward.

It had gone only a short distance when Sam saw the alien ship, the one that had caused all this trouble. Like her, it was inside the gas cloud. Since, in all this time, it hadn't come after the Prometheus or left the cloud, Sam guessed that it was having the same problem she'd been having. That realization gave her an idea.

Hallucination Daniel walked up to her. "Sam, what are you doing?" The major didn't spare a glance for him.

"I believe she is attempting to rescue her fellow crew members."

Ah, now Teal'c had joined the party. Oh, wait. Jack was here, too. Great. The whole team together again. Too bad that three-quarters of them were figments of her imagination.

"Sam, be careful," Daniel warned. "You already saw what they can do."

"Indeed. The alien vessel is quite formidable," Teal'c intoned. "Perhaps it would be best to flee and seek help from Earth."

"There's no time," Sam said.

"Will you guys shut up? Just let her work," Jack told them.

Sam brought the Prometheus as close as she dared to the alien ship. She then deactivated the hyperdrive. Sam went to the command chair and switched on Ship-to-Ship Communication.

"This is Major Samantha Carter of the U.S. Air Force vessel Prometheus," she announced. "Can you hear me?" Her question was answered with only static. "I'm thinking you've been stuck in here just as long as I have. The only difference is I've found a way out." Again no answer. "Here's the deal. Return my crew, everyone, intact, and let us go, and I'll help you get out of here. Do we have a deal?"

For a long, tense moment, Sam waited. If the alien ship decided not to take her up on her offer, she was dead.

Suddenly the bridge crew appeared all around her.

"What the hell just happened?" Colonel Ronson asked.

"It's a long story, sir." Sam got out of his chair and into Major Gant's. "Just bear with me. I'm activating a hyperspace bubble to include the alien vessel. We're going to bring it with us, out of the cloud."

"Major?" Ronson questioned uncertainly.

"I'll explain everything soon enough, sir."

As Gant watched, Sam increased the size of the hyperspace bubble until it had completely surrounded both ships. Inside its protection, the ships moved out of the gas cloud, the Prometheus in the lead.

"Now what?" Ronson asked.

"We see if they keep their end of the bargain," Sam replied.

Everyone waited tensely as the alien vessel flew up over them, then headed away into space. Sam and Ronson released sighs of relief.

"Well done, Major," the commander praised.

Sam nodded as her exhaustion hit her full-force. "Sir, with your permission I'd like to relieve myself of duty now."

Seeing that she was in desperate need of medical attention, Ronson told her to take it easy and ordered some crew members to get her to the infirmary. Sam was helped out of the chair and down the corridor, thankful that the ordeal was all over.

* * *

Consciousness returned to Sam in a rush. Her eyes blinked open.

"Hey, Sam."

The major turned to see Daniel gazing at her from a chair at her bedside, a soft smile on his face. His hand was covering hers.

"Daniel."

"How are you feeling?"

"Um . . . disoriented, and my head hurts."

"I can imagine it does. You suffered a massive concussion."

"How long was I out there?"

"Four days, Earth time."

"Could have sworn it was weeks."

Daniel nodded. "Well, you've been through a lot. Jack just left a little while ago, and Teal'c was here earlier. We're all planning a party for when you get out of here. Jack mentioned something about cake."

Sam smiled. "A cake?"

Daniel returned her smile with a big one of his own. "You bet."

"Can't wait."

Daniel's smile died, and his gaze dropped to the hand he had laid over hers. "I'm glad you're okay, Sam. I've been . . . really worried."

"Daniel?"

The archeologist looked back up at her. "Hmm?"

"Did you. . . ."

"What?"

"I know it's probably insane, but I could have sworn that . . . that you were trying to contact me out there."

A smile lit Daniel's eyes. "Your sanity is intact, Sam."

"Then it's true?"

"Yeah. I was trying to find you, figure out where you were and maybe contact you somehow."

Sam's expression was one of wonder. "I felt you, one time in particular. Daniel, that's incredible."

Daniel shrugged. "I was just very determined."

Janet came up to the bed. "Determined? I'd say that's the understatement of the century." She smiled down at her patient. "How are you feeling, Sam? You know, between you and him," she pointed at Daniel, "I could never get bored around here."

It was then that Sam noticed the bandages on Daniel's left hand. "What did you do?"

He glanced at the hand. "Oh, I, um, had a little accident. I'll tell you about it later. A few things happened while you were gone."

Janet gave an unladylike snort, which was all Sam needed to figure out that a whole lot must have happened.

"I'll be looking forward to it," she said.

Janet shooed Daniel away so that she could examine Sam. Once she was through, she looked into the major's eyes.

"He's been through a lot since you disappeared, Sam, more than you can imagine," she said in a low voice so as not to be overheard.

"Is it something to do with his abilities?"

"Ohhhh, yeah, and more. Try to convince him to go home tonight. He hasn't been getting nearly enough sleep."

"He did look a little tired."

Janet smiled. "I think that the longest stretch of sleep he's had was the five hours he spent snoring away in that chair right there after you were brought in."

The thought that Daniel fell asleep at her bedside while waiting for her to awaken touched Sam deeply. She couldn't ask for a better friend than him.

"Well, I'll let Daniel talk with you for a bit longer," Janet told her, "but not too long. You need more rest."

As soon as Janet had gone, Daniel was back in the chair beside the bed.

"So, Janet says that you've been really busy," Sam said.

"Uh, yeah, you could say that. It's too long a story to go into now. There is something that I need to talk with you about, though."

"What's that?"

"It's about that gas cloud you were in."

"What about it?"

Daniel watched her closely. "It's a whole lot more than you thought it was, Sam. I don't exactly understand it myself, but it's alive."

Sam stared at him in surprise, feeling a sense of deja vu. This is what the hallucination of Daniel had suggested. For an irrational moment, she wondered if she was still seeing things.

"Sam? Are you okay?"

Sam blinked a couple of times. "What? Oh, um . . . yeah. Sorry. What makes you think that the cloud is alive?"

"Because I felt it. I communicated with it."

Sam's mouth fell open. "You . . . what?"

"After the second or third time that I tried to contact you, I began getting this odd feeling, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Then, the last time that I tried to get through to you, I felt this huge alien presence. I didn't know who or what it was. Then, all at once, they got through to me."

"They?"

"Yeah. The cloud is a . . . a collective of billions and billions of tiny entities. I think that they're made of some kind of energy, but they generate a gaseous substance, which is the gas cloud you were in. They live in complete harmony, almost like a single mind. The closest thing on Earth that I can compare it to is the Borg in Star Trek. They do everything as one. Unlike the Borg, however, they are completely peaceful. The cloud is their protection. It fools other intelligent species into thinking that they're just a nebula or something similar."

Sam lay in the bed in stunned silence. "Daniel, that is amazing." Then a thought hit her. "My God. Grace."

"Who?"

"While I was trapped in the cloud, I suffered hallucinations. All but one of them were of people I knew: you, the colonel, Teal'c, my father. But there was also this little girl who called herself Grace. I didn't understand why I was seeing her, what her purpose was." Sam turned excited eyes on the man beside her. "Daniel, I think that Grace was the cloud. You were right about her!"

Daniel's brow knit in confusion. "What?"

"You, or, rather, the hallucination that looked like you theorized that Grace was the physical personification of the cloud."

"I did? I mean, it did?"

"Yes, and you . . . it was right. There were some things Grace said that makes sense now. She told me that you were looking for me. She also said that you were special, different from me and, I'm guessing, the rest of the Prometheus crew. Maybe the crew of that alien ship, too. She told me that you 'knew' now and that you'd tell me who they were. She also said that they'd learned a lot from the two of us."

Daniel nodded his head. "That's what they said to me as well. They don't have much close contact with other lifeforms, preferring not to. They had no clue about what's been going on in the galaxy, the Goa'uld, the Replicators, the fight we've been waging to save humanity. They said that the time they spent watching and learning about you was enlightening. Oh, and they apologized for the problems with the ship. They had no idea that their gas emissions would adversely affect ships like that. They tried to give you a hint on how you could get out. I guess

you finally got the message."

Sam smiled. "Yes, I did. I used a bubble."

"A bubble?"

Sam explained what she did. "Grace had been blowing bubbles with one of those bubble wands for a while, and it just suddenly hit me." Sam then realized something else. "'Then the traveler in the dark thanks you for your tiny spark. How could he see where to go if you did not twinkle so?'"

Daniel looked at her in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"It's a variation of a line in the children's rhyme 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'. I think that Grace was giving me a clue that I needed to let her guide me out of the cloud." Sam looked up at Daniel. "Why didn't she, they, just tell me who they were?"

"Their survival depends upon secrecy, Sam. Like I said before, the cloud they generate fools others into thinking that they're nothing more than a collection of gasses. They didn't know if they could trust you enough to let you know of their existence, so they created Grace."

"Why use the image of a little girl?"

Daniel shrugged. "Maybe because a child, especially a female child, would be the least threatening image that they could create. You would have no fear of a little girl."

"So, what changed things? Why, at the end, did they decide to reveal that they were more than a hallucination?"

"Uh, well, that was because of me. They had sensed me before, but were puzzled about who and what I was. When they finally realized that I was of the same species as you, it surprised them since neither you nor any of the Prometheus crew showed signs of being able to do what I was doing. When I became aware of them and we made contact, they knew that they didn't need to hide from us anymore. You were in the middle of a crisis, though, so they didn't want to hit you with the knowledge that the gas cloud you were inside was actually a community of living entities."

"So, they just gave me a few little hints and let you be the one to tell me."

Daniel nodded. "Yeah."

Sam gave a little laugh. "This is so incredible, Daniel. I'd love to find out exactly what they are, what they're made of, how they exist."

"We need to leave them be, Sam," Daniel told her gently. "They wouldn't want to be poked, and prodded, and studied like that. You, me, Jack, Teal'c and the general are the only ones who know about them, and it's going to stay that way. General Hammond has agreed not to report this to anyone since these entities are not a threat to Earth or anybody else. They just want to live in peace and be left alone."

Though Sam's scientific curiosity was driving her to learn all about the entities, she agreed that they had the right to their privacy and to not be subjected to the testing and scrutiny that would occur if word of their existence got out.

"I can really identify with that wish," Daniel added.

Sam looked at him closely. "Yes, I guess you can, can't you." She smiled. "So, are you going to tell me what's been going on around here while I was gone?"

Daniel smiled and stood up. "Later. I promise. Right now, you need to get some more sleep." He gazed down at her and squeezed her hand. "It's really good to have you home, Sam." He gave her another smile, then left the infirmary.

Very happy to be home and back with her friends, Sam closed her eyes. Moments later, she was asleep. 


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

When Sam again awoke, it was not Daniel who was at her bedside, but the colonel.

"Good day, Major," he greeted with a smile. "Welcome home."

"Thank you, sir. It's good to be home."

"In case you're wondering where Daniel is, the doc banned him from the infirmary until he got some more sleep."

"Janet told me that he'd been through a lot since the Prometheus disappeared. What happened, sir?"

"Oh, that could take a while, Carter."

"I doubt that I'll be going anywhere any time soon, sir."

Jack nodded. "All right, you asked for it. You want me to put your bed up?"

"Yes, please."

Jack raised the head of the bed so that Sam was in a semi-seated position.

"Okay, where do I start. First of all, Jacob and Anise came calling."

"Uh oh. Anise, huh?"

"Yeah. Those were my sentiments, too, when I saw her."

"I'm assuming it was about Daniel's psychic abilities."

"Oh, yeah. Anise wanted to put him under a microscope and figure out how they could artificially reproduce in other humans what Daniel could do. Daniel basically told her to go fly a kite, though he was a lot more polite about it."

"What about my dad?"

"He was passing on the wishes of the Tok'ra to use Daniel's skills on missions."

Sam smiled. "And let me guess, sir. _You_ told _him_ to go fly a kite."

"Yep. But Daniel said yes."

Sam stared at him in surprise. "He did?"

"He agreed to go on missions if they were really important and there was no other way for the mission to succeed. He made it clear that he had the final say in what missions he would and would not accept."

Sam shook her head. "After what happened at the Goa'uld summit, I'm surprised that Daniel would want anything to do with a Tok'ra mission."

"No more surprised than I was, Carter."

"I'm assuming that you tried to talk him out of it."

"Oh, you bet I did. You can probably guess how much success I had."

"None?"

"Bingo. When Daniel's made up his mind about something, an exploding Naquadah generator couldn't budge him."

Sam smiled. "How well I know that."

"Well, we were just wrapping up that meeting when Daniel suddenly sensed that you guys were in trouble. From what we learned from Colonel Ronson, Daniel's sixth sense kicked in just about the time that you guys entered the cloud and the crew all got taken captive. By the way, do you have any idea why the aliens left you onboard?"

"No, sir. Perhaps it was because I was unconscious at the time." A thought occurred to Sam. "Unless. . . ."

"What?"

Sam shook her head. "Nothing, sir." For a moment, she had toyed with the idea that the cloud entities had somehow shielded her from the alien ship's sensors in order to protect her, but that was pretty unlikely. "Please go on."

"Well, after that, Daniel kept trying to find you. He was able to pick up some things, but not enough to pinpoint exactly where you were. He did know that you were alone, though."

Sam nodded. "I sensed him, sir. I could feel him reaching out to me."

"Well, it all got put on hold when Jacob told us that the Tok'ra had a little problem. There was this erupting volcano that was threatening two of their operatives and several hundred humans. Guess what Daniel did."

"Volunteered to help?"

"You're two for two, Major. The DHD was out of commission, as was the ship the Tok'ra came in, so everyone was trapped on the planet. Hammond had agreed to loan the Tok'ra a Naquadah generator to power up the gate, but Daniel didn't think that there would be enough time to dial the gate by hand. He volunteered to go and dial it himself."

"But he'd never done it before. How could he be sure. . . ." Sam saw the look on Jack's face. "He tested himself on our gate."

"You are batting a thousand, Carter. Daniel dialed it up pretty as you please. Really impressed the control room staff."

"So, all of you went to the planet?"

"Uh huh, along with SG-6, some medical personnel, and Siler, who brought along the generator. And that's when things got hot, both figuratively and literally. Daniel once worked on a dig at Pompeii and some other city that Vesuvius wiped out, so he knew what might happen and warned us about it. But I gotta tell you, Carter. I'd rather deal with an attacking Goa'uld mothership than one of those pyroclassic flow things."

"Pyroclastic, sir."

"You know all about them, too?" Jack asked in irritation.

"Well, no, sir, but I know what they are. Didn't you ever see the movie Dante's Peak?"

"Must have missed that one, and, after what we went through on that planet, I don't think that I'm going to be putting it on my 'must see' list any time soon. The first of those flow things stopped just short of us, but the second one came barreling down right at us. We just barely managed to get everyone through the gate in time." He gave her a little smile. "Oh, but I'm forgetting to tell you the best part of our little adventure. Just a few minutes after we got to the planet, there was a huge earthquake, which cracked the base that the Stargate was mounted on. The gate fell right toward us," he paused for dramatic effect, "and Daniel caught it."

Sam's eyes widened hugely, her jaw dropping open in an expression of utter shock. "He . . . he . . . caught it?" Her voice was hushed.

"Yep, all sixty-four thousand pounds of it."

Sam's gaze slid away to stare unseeingly across the room. "That's . . . that's. . . . My God, that's . . . wow. I mean . . . wow."

"Carter, are you related to Lieutenant Washington?" Jack asked, referring to the young man who'd had a similar reaction to Daniel blowing up an Al'Kesh.

Sam gave herself a little shake and looked at Jack. "You don't understand, sir. It's not just the weight."

"It isn't?"

"The Stargate was _falling_, Colonel, and Daniel caught it. This means that you have to factor in kinetic energy and impact force. Now, I don't know how far the gate fell before Daniel stopped it, but just the fact that he was able to stop the fall of something that weighed that much is absolutely extraordinary. Of course, one end of the Stargate still being on the ground reduces the figures, but, even so. . . . What did the gravity feel like on that planet? Did you feel heavier, lighter, or about the same as on Earth?"

Jack thought about it. "I wasn't really paying all that much attention, but I think I felt slightly heavier."

"Then the Stargate would have weighed even more than sixty-four thousand pounds since the gravity was higher than here on Earth." Sam shook her head. "Like I said, sir. Wow." A thought suddenly hit her. "Colonel, using his abilities to that extent . . . was Daniel okay?"

"Not hardly. He was in excruciating pain, Carter, and he couldn't let it down even after everyone was clear because it would have been face down."

"And you couldn't have dialed out."

"Exactly. He had to lift it back up and lower it onto its back. But it was too much weight for him. A bunch of us grabbed hold and helped him, but, by the time the gate was on the ground, Daniel was on the verge of passing out. I really thought he was going to. He looked like death warmed over. And then he ended up having to dial the gate because we ran out of time. When we made it to the Alpha Site, he couldn't even stand up by himself, but, like an idiot, he slept for all of three hours, then spent the next twenty-four hours helping and getting to know the refugees, figuring out what planet we could take them to, talking to a bunch of Jaffa who were just about ready to get on their knees and worship him, and then relocating the refugees."

"I'm surprised that Janet let him get away with that."

"Oh, she wouldn't have if she'd known. You see, when we gated out from that volcanic planet, some of that pyro flow followed us through. It was all over the Stargate and DHD. It took the rest of the day and all night for it to cool enough that we could safely brush off the gate and the DHD and dial out. The SGC had to send over some guys to clean things up, then we gated the people who were more badly injured to Earth. Daniel refused to leave, probably because he knew that once the doc got hold of him, she wouldn't let him return. So, he just kept working until after we'd gotten all those hundreds of refugees relocated and set up in their new home."

Sam shook her head, thinking that Daniel had to be one of the most pig-headed men in the galaxy. "I can imagine that Janet was not happy about all of that."

"That would be a big no. I didn't see the blowup myself, but, from what I heard, Daniel is lucky that he's still got an ass to sit on. And he _still_ didn't want to go to bed."

"Why not? I'd have thought that he would have been exhausted."

"Oh, he was, Carter." Jack looked at her intently. "But finding you was a lot more important to him. After all that time that had passed, he was worried sick. He insisted on doing the psychic stuff once more to check on you. Afterwards, he did go to sleep, but he couldn't have gotten more than a couple of hours when he had another one of those dreams. He saw that the gasses of that cloud were corroding the hull of the Prometheus and that there would be a hull breach if something wasn't done."

The look on the colonel's face told Sam that something had happened. "What is it, sir?" she asked, almost afraid to know.

"The Tok'ra hadn't been able to send a ship to go look for you because they were all on missions. Daniel got this idea that. . . ." He leaned forward in his chair, his eyes catching Sam's. "He was going to give himself to the Tok'ra, Sam," he told her, his voice low and intense. "He was going to make a deal with them that, if they sent a ship right away, pulled one off a mission, he would work for them on whatever missions they pleased."

Sam's breath drew in sharply. Daniel was going to make that kind of sacrifice for her?

"I. . . ." Sam shook her head, tears stinging her eyes. "I wouldn't have wanted him to do that."

"I know. I probably should have told him that when we argued about it. I didn't think about it at the time. I was too furious."

"So, what happened?"

There was a slight pause. "We yelled and screamed at each other, then there was a little . . . accident. That's how Daniel cut his hand, on some broken glass. While he was getting stitched up, the Tok'ra told us that they had a ship available and were on their way. They checked that gas cloud thing, but their sensors couldn't detect you inside it for some reason."

"They couldn't? There must be something about the gas or the entities themselves that rendered us invisible to the ship's sensors." Sam again wondered if "Grace" had something to do with her not being taken prisoner with the rest of the crew.

"Since then, Daniel's gotten a little sleep here and there, but he refused to go home until you were safe and back on Earth. The doc's just about frothing at the mouth. I'm surprised that she hasn't stuck a needle in his ass loaded with a truckload of sedatives."

Sam smiled. "She told me to ask him to go home tonight."

"Oh, he's going home all right," Jack stated firmly. "You can bet your paycheck on that, even if I have to club him over the head and throw him in the trunk of my car. I probably wouldn't have to club him, though. I bet the doc would give me something to spike his water with. She's not a wuss like the guys who were at the Alpha Site. Can you believe that they didn't want to mess with someone who probably broke the galactic psychic weightlifting record by bench pressing a Stargate?"

"Technically, it wasn't bench pressing since I was not lying down," said a voice on the other side of the half-drawn curtain. Jack cringed at the realization that he'd been overheard by the subject of their conversation.

Daniel came into view. "It was a lot more like a deadlift," he finished. He then looked at the bed's occupant. "Hello, Sam."

Trying not to smile for the sake of the colonel, the major returned the greeting.

"I suppose that Jack has been regaling you with our adventures over the past few days."

"Yes, he has. Sounds like I missed all the fun."

"Oh, I think you were having more than enough 'fun' of your own, Carter," Jack responded. He stood up. "Apparently, it's time for a changing of the guard, so I will leave you in Daniel's company. I'll see you later."

Jack began to walk away but was halted by Daniel's voice.

"Oh, Jack. I assume that you've decided that the whole shoving me in the trunk of your car thing would not be a very good idea now," he said, a single eyebrow cocked.

Jack gave him a glare and stomped off, muttering something about telekinetic archeologists being an even bigger pain in the ass.

Sam started laughing, which made Daniel do the same. He sat in the chair vacated by Jack. Sam's laughter faded away as she looked at him.

"He told me about what you were planning on doing, Daniel," she said, "how you were going to give yourself in trade to the Tok'ra."

Daniel's gaze dropped to the floor.

"Daniel, I would _never_ have wanted you to do that for me, not ever, no matter what."

Daniel looked at her. "I just wanted to bring you home, Sam, to make sure you were safe."

"I know, Daniel, and I can't tell you how much it means to me that you would be willing to do something like that. But you have to promise me that, if there is ever another situation like this, you will not do anything like that."

Daniel did not reply for a while. Knowing that Sam would accept only one answer, he nodded. "All right. I promise. But, Sam, you need to know that, if I'd done it, I wouldn't have regretted it if it ended up saving you. I'd have done the same thing if it had been Jack or Teal'c on that ship."

Sam smiled at him. "I know, Daniel. I'm just very happy that it didn't come to that. So, did you get some sleep? Colonel O'Neill said that you were under orders not to set foot in the infirmary until you got some rest."

"Yes, I got some sleep, a couple of hours. I didn't want to get any more than that since it looks like I'm going to be going home tonight whether I want to or not, and if I get too much sleep now, I won't be able to fall asleep tonight."

"The colonel's just concerned about you, Daniel."

"I know, and I appreciate the concern. But Jack in mother hen mode is not a pretty sight to see. He never used to be quite this . . . forceful about it."

"He watched you die of radiation poisoning, Daniel. We all did. Then we were without you for a year. Since you've returned, we've nearly lost you again, one way or another, three different times. I think this most recent time, with you having to leave Earth, is what really drove things home for him, especially being followed by all the medical concerns regarding your psychic abilities. He's afraid that he is going to lose you permanently. We all are. Can you really blame him for acting the way he is?"

Daniel stared at the bedcovers. "No, I guess not." He lifted his eyes to hers. "So, what you're saying is that I'm going to have to get used to the mother hen from hell act."

Sam smiled in sympathy. "Afraid so."

Janet came up to them. "Daniel, I thought I made it clear to you that you were not to come back here until you got some sleep."

"I _did_ get some sleep," he told her, his tone the tiniest bit petulant.

Janet looked at the clock pointedly. "Uh huh. Two or three hours is not what I had in mind."

"Janet, I promise that I will go home tonight and get a full nights' sleep."

"I'm glad to hear it. I would suggest that you do so now."

"But it's only five o'clock!"

"Which will give you plenty of time to drive home, fix yourself a good, nutritious meal, and get to bed early."

Daniel was all ready to object some more, but the expression on Janet's face told him that he'd be wasting his breath.

"Fine," he muttered. He turned to the occupant of the bed. "I think Jack's got some stiff competition, Sam."

The major held back a smile.

"I guess I'll see you in the morning," he told her. "I think I'm going to go home and have some chicken for dinner since there seems to be an abundance of hens around here."

Sam's smile broke free as Daniel turned and walked away.

"What was that all about?" Janet asked.

"Daniel is bemoaning the fact that everybody is turning into a mother hen over him."

Janet smiled. "Ah, and I suppose that I'm one of them."

"Yep."

"And Colonel O'Neill?"

"Big time."

Janet sat on the edge of the bed, something she almost never did. That told Sam that what the doctor had to say was pretty serious.

"Sam, did Daniel tell you how he cut his hand?"

Sam shook her head. "Colonel O'Neill told me that he cut it on some broken glass when the two of them got into an argument about Daniel volunteering himself to the Tok'ra."

"Then he didn't tell you what happened while they were arguing?"

"Um . . . no. What happened?"

Janet glanced around the room to see if anyone was within hearing distance. Seeing that there wasn't she said in a low voice, "Daniel lost control of his abilities, Sam. He accidentally blew up his computer monitor and threw everything off his desk."

"What?" Sam said in a hushed voice, shocked.

"He was furious at the colonel for trying to prevent him from doing something that might save you. His mind vented the anger psychically. I am certain that Daniel's extreme exhaustion played a big part in it, but it still really shook him. His eyes looked . . . haunted when he came in. I am almost certain that he was thinking about how easily it could have been Colonel O'Neill who was hit by the outburst. If that had happened, the colonel could have been seriously injured or even killed."

"My God. Poor Daniel. He's probably terrified that it will happen again."

Janet nodded. "Human beings are not designed to handle that kind of power, Sam, neither physically nor psychologically. The mental and emotional strain on Daniel must be tremendous. A weaker person probably wouldn't be able to handle it. Either it would turn them into someone who enjoys the power and delights in using it on others or they'd be so scared that they would completely withdraw from contact with other people. So far, Daniel has handled it extraordinarily well, but this latest incident is going to be preying on his mind."

"What should we do?"

"Well, if it was anyone but Daniel, I'd recommend that they talk to a psychiatrist, but Daniel has never fully trusted psychiatrists ever since Doctor MacKenzie mistakenly committed him to Mental Health. I seriously doubt that he'd open up enough to a professional for it to do any good."

"Maybe we can get him to open up to us, the Colonel, Teal'c and me."

"It's possible. All you can do is try."


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

Despite the fact that he had gone to bed early, Daniel still did not get a full night's sleep. He had lain awake for hours thinking about what happened in his office three days ago. The accidental destruction he caused had really scared him, showing him how easily he could inadvertently kill someone if he did not maintain complete control of his abilities. How could he keep something like that from happening again? Normally, he was not the kind of man who let his temper get the better of him. He could usually keep a rein on it, at least mostly. It was just that, this time, it escaped his control. There really wasn't anything he could do except try to prevent that from happening again.

Daniel entered the infirmary and went over to Sam. Seeing that she was asleep, he decided to talk with Janet.

"Good morning, Daniel," the doctor greeted. "Did you sleep well?"

Daniel hesitated. "Well enough," he replied.

Janet frowned. "Daniel, what time to did go to bed?"

"Early. I just had a little trouble getting to sleep."

"Do you want another sleeping tablet for tonight?" Janet asked in concern.

"No, definitely not. I hate the way those things make me feel in the morning. I'll be fine."

Janet put down the chart she'd been studying. "Could you come into my office, Daniel? I'd like to discuss something with you."

Wondering what this was about and suspecting that he wasn't going to like it, Daniel followed the doctor to her office.

"How's Sam doing?" he asked as he sat down, hoping to keep the conversation off him.

"Much better. She is very lucky that she didn't suffer a more severe head injury, especially with the lengthy delay in treatment." Janet's rich brown eyes pierced into Daniel. "How are _you_ doing?"

"I'm okay."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, I have a lot of things on my mind, but, yeah, I'm doing all right."

Janet gave him a sympathetic look. "Daniel, I can't even begin to know what you're going through. It is so far beyond my experience as a doctor, as a human being, that I'd be insulting you if I said that I understood what all this is like for you. However, I think I have an idea how _I'd_ feel if it was happening to me. I'd be terrified, full of self-doubts, wondering if I was strong enough to handle that kind of power. The responsibilities that came with it would weigh pretty heavily on my mind. In fact, I'm pretty certain that I wouldn't want such a power. It would simply be too much."

Daniel's eyes had dropped to the hands he held in his lap. His body language was telling Janet that she was hitting very close to the mark, perhaps even dead on.

"What I'm trying to say, Daniel, is that I'm here for you if you want to talk about it, and so are your teammates. We all care about you and want you to feel that you can come to us with your problems."

Daniel lifted his eyes to hers. "Thank you, Janet. I appreciate that a lot. But I need to deal with this myself."

"Daniel, talking to your friends about how you feel doesn't make you weak."

"I know that, Janet. I've talked a little bit with Sam and Jack. But some things are just too . . . difficult to talk about. And, in the end, talking about this wouldn't change anything. This is something that I need to be able to handle on my own. Like you said, it's something that's beyond your experience, beyond the experience of anyone on this planet. No psychologist has done a study on how possessing this kind of power can affect a person. There haven't been any seminars given, or papers published, or-or support groups formed. I'm alone, Janet, so I need to be able to handle this alone." He stood up. "I want to visit with Sam a bit before getting to work."

Daniel left the office and went over to Sam's bed. He could see that her eyes were now open.

"Hi," he greeted.

"Hey," she said with a sleepy smile. "What time is it?"

Daniel glanced at his watch. "Almost 7:30, that's 0730 to you."

"Did you go home last night and get some sleep like Janet wanted you to?"

"Yes, I got some sleep. But I'm not here to talk about me. I'm not the one in the infirmary this time. How are you feeling?"

"Okay. Better. Not having that massive headache anymore is a relief."

Daniel smiled. "I know what you mean. Mine wasn't quite as severe as yours, but I do know what a bad concussion feels like. My head wasn't feeling too good after Teal'c and I got blasted out of the wormhole back when you and Jack took your unscheduled trip to Antarctica."

"Yeah, that's right. I forgot about that. So, how long did Janet make _you_ stay in the infirmary?"

"You mean after I finally regained consciousness? Well, first of all, it was Doctor Warner on duty, not Janet, which was a lucky break for me. He wanted to keep me here for another full day, but I was, um, anxious to help find you guys, so I made myself as big a pain in the ass as I could to get him to release me in time to be there when they got the Stargate back up and running."

Sam laughed. "I don't think that would work with me, especially since it's Janet who's on duty."

Daniel grinned. "So, you'll just have to stay here and relax until she agrees to let you leave."

"Unfortunately."

"Come on, Sam. You were stranded alone on the Prometheus for four days, trying to survive. I'd think that you would welcome the chance to just relax for a while."

Sam stared at him. "Would you?"

Daniel paused, thinking about that. "No, I guess not." He smiled again. "Sometimes it's scary how much alike we are."

Daniel's words made Sam recall the letter he had written to her, and she realized that she never thanked him for it. It was about time that she did. It was also way past time that she let him know face to face how much he meant to her. "Yes, we are alike in a lot of ways, aren't we. I just realized that I never thanked you for the letter you wrote to me before you and Teal'c left Earth."

Daniel's eyes immediately dropped from hers.

"What you said meant a lot to me," Sam continued. She reached for his hand. "I want you to know that I feel the same way. Not many people really understand me, _all_ of me. They see certain facets, understand certain things. But you always saw more. Even way back when we first met Cassie, you saw all of me as a person, not just what the uniform showed me to be. Through all these years, that never changed." She smiled. "A few months ago, when Warrick asked me to help him in that race, you knew exactly what I was feeling. Nobody else spotted that."

Daniel got a big smile. "Ah, yes. The whole gung ho, 'This is going to be fun,' thing."

Sam's smile equaled Daniel's. "Exactly. And you could tell right off that I was unhappy about us losing the race." Her smile was replaced by a tender yet earnest expression. "Your friendship means a lot to me, Daniel. No matter what, that will never change."

The two friends shared a tight hug.

"Well, I guess I'd better get to work and earn all that money they pay me," Daniel said after they'd separated.

Sam almost laughed at the comment. "Daniel, only you would think that there's some doubt about you earning the money you get paid. Whatever it is, it could be twice as much and still not come close to repaying you for everything you do."

Embarrassed, Daniel looked down. "Well, if Jack knew how much more I get paid than him, he probably wouldn't agree."

"Oh, I think he has a pretty good idea what you make, Daniel. He was the one who took care of making sure that the money you had in the bank didn't go anywhere after you ascended."

"Yeah, I was always meaning to ask him about that. In my will, I gave everything to you guys, Janet, Cassie, and a few other people, yet you didn't take much of anything. You kept a lot of my stuff, and all my money was left in the bank. Why?"

Sam's expression turned sad. "Because we didn't want to give up on the hope that you'd come back someday."

Hearing Sam's words made a question come to his mind. "How long?"

"How long what?"

"How long would you have kept hoping?"

"I . . . I don't know. I would never have wanted to give up on that hope, but . . . but I guess that, eventually, I'd have had to." The thought that years might have passed before she finally gave up hope made Sam feel terribly sad. She shook herself out of the sadness immediately. Daniel was right here with them. He _had_ come back, fulfilling their hopes that he would. She put on a smile. "But it doesn't matter now. You're back here with us, right where you belong."

Daniel smiled at her. "Yes, I am." He gave her hand a last little squeeze, then released it. "I'll come visit you later. Try not to pester Janet too much about letting you out of here."

"I make no promises."

Janet came over after Daniel had left. "Did you get him to talk?" she asked.

"About what?" Sam asked. Then she realized what Janet meant. "Oh. Um, no. We didn't talk about that. It was about something else."

"Too bad. I tried to encourage Daniel to talk about it, but he refused. He said that it was something he needed to deal with by himself. I couldn't hear what you were both talking about just now, but I could tell that it was something serious. I was hoping that you got him to open up to you." Janet gave a sad little sigh. "He feels alone, Sam, and, in this way, he is. There isn't another soul on this entire planet who can identify with what he's going through, not even Cassie, even though she had that incident happen to her. I seriously doubt that there's another human being in this whole _galaxy_ that has been in Daniel's shoes."

"I know what you mean. Some of the people that Nirrti experimented on developed psychic abilities, but none of them to the extent that Daniel has. And I'm pretty sure they all thought that their abilities were part of Nirrti's blessings upon them. They certainly had no qualms about using them."

Janet shook her head. "Sometimes, I find myself wishing heartily that this had never happened. But then I think about the lives that Daniel has already saved, people who would now be dead if it wasn't for him and these abilities of his."

"I know what you mean. It's both a curse and a blessing."

"We need to find a way to make him see it as more of a blessing than a curse."

"How?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. The problem is that, so far, virtually every time he's used his abilities, it's been either in a destructive manner or because of some kind of disaster. On top of that, it causes him physical pain. It would be pretty difficult to develop a positive attitude under those conditions."

"Yes, it would."

"Hopefully, things will get better in time."

* * *

When Daniel told Sam that they were throwing a party, he wasn't kidding. SG-1, Janet, Cassie, General Hammond, several members of the Prometheus crew and some others from the SGC were all at Jack's house, eating, drinking and enjoying themselves. Not only was there the promised cake, but also a myriad of finger foods and snacks.

"Sir, this is quite the party you, Daniel and Teal'c put together," Sam commented.

"Why thank you, Carter. And how many times do I have to tell you not to call me 'sir' when we're off-duty?"

"Sorry, sir, um . . . Jack."

Jack grinned and patted her on the shoulder. "Better. Much better." He glanced about. "Where'd Daniel get off to? He was here just a second ago."

"I think he went outside."

"Well, I'd better go drag him back in here. Wouldn't want him to miss something."

Sam gave her C.O. a perplexed look. "Miss something?"

Not responding to her query, Jack headed off in search of the absent archeologist. He found the man out front, leaning back against the trunk of a car and staring up at the sky.

"Going somewhere?" Jack asked.

Daniel glanced at him. "No, I was just getting some fresh air."

"There are lots of people out in the yard getting fresh air. How come you're doing it all by yourself?"

Daniel gave a little sigh. "I was just thinking about some things, that's all."

Jack looked at him more closely. "You okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Well, come on. You need to come back inside."

Daniel stared at Jack suspiciously. "Why?"

"Because Hammond's going to be making a little speech about Carter and what she did on the Prometheus."

Daniel smiled. "Really? That's great."

"Come on, then. You don't want to miss it."

The two men went back to the house. Jack gathered all of the other people who were outside and ushered them indoors.

Hammond made his way to the center of the room. "Ladies and gentleman, may I have your attention?" The room grew quiet, all eyes on the general. "I'd like to take this moment to say a few words. Because of her perseverance, courage and skills, Major Samantha Carter singlehandedly saved the Prometheus and the lives of all her crew. There are several people here today who very likely owe their lives or, at the very least, their freedom to her."

Everyone in the room applauded, Sam's teammates and the crew of the Prometheus clapping the loudest. Embarrassed, Sam blushed. She felt a hand on her arm and turned to see Daniel smiling proudly at her.

"I have every intention of making sure that Major Carter receives a commendation for her actions," Hammond continued. There was more applause. Hammond held up his hands to silence everyone. "There is something else I wish to say as well." His eyes went to Daniel. "Doctor Jackson, through some miracle that I am not going to question, you have been given a great power. Just in the few short weeks that you've had it, you have already saved the lives of hundreds of people, including your own teammates and every member of SG-3."

Colonel Reynolds and his teammates all nodded, smiling at Daniel, who was presently staring at the carpet, surprised and embarrassed by the unexpected words.

"And you have done so in spite of the fact that it caused you great pain and could have resulted in severe injury to you," Hammond continued. "I don't know what the future is going to bring, but I have every confidence that your abilities will continue to save lives and may even bring us a few steps closer to our goal of defeating the Goa'uld. We almost lost you because of these abilities, and I want to say now that we are all grateful that you are back with us and a part of the SGC and SG-1."

Loud applause followed Hammond's words, along with more than one whistle. Even more embarrassed, Daniel continued staring at the floor. He felt a nudge in the ribs and knew it was Jack. Finally, he lifted his gaze.

"Thank you, sir," he said. "I hope that I can live up to your confidence in me. I'm also glad that I'm here, back on Earth and back with the SGC and SG-1." He looked at his teammates, who were all smiling at him. "There isn't anywhere else in the galaxy," his gaze intensified, "on this plane of existence or any other, that I'd rather be."

Jack and Sam's smiles turned into full-blown grins, and Teal'c adopted a very pleased look.

Speeches over, everyone resumed what they had been doing. All the members of SG-1 went outside to enjoy the sunshine. Someone had set up a boom box and was playing CDs. Several people were dancing. Grinning, Daniel asked Sam to dance. With an answering grin, she let him lead her out onto the 'dance floor', which was actually a section of well-trodden grass.

Jack watched as the two youngest members of his team had fun. He looked over and saw Teal'c with Cassie. The teenager was excitedly telling the Jaffa something as he silently listened, an expression of fond attentiveness on his face.

Smiling in satisfaction, Jack found himself a lounge chair, deciding that life couldn't get much better than this.

* * *

Daniel sat on the couch, a pile of photographs on the coffee table and an open photo album on his lap. Back when he was going through the stuff that was put in storage after he ascended, he found a small box full of photos. He'd almost forgotten about the box, it having been put up on a shelf in his closet. During these months that he'd been human again, Daniel had been intending to do something about the photos, but he never got around to it. All the things that had happened lately, especially the way that his friendship with his teammates was deepening, had made him decide to finally put the pictures in an album.

Daniel gazed at the photos of his parents and himself as a child. The originals of most of these photos had been among Nick's personal possessions and given to him by the psychiatric facility where the man had spent so many years of his life. After Nick chose to stay on P7X-377, Daniel went to the facility and told them that his grandfather wouldn't be coming back, that he had decided to leave the country. It had taken a bit of doing and some help from the government, but Daniel finally gained custody of Nick's belongings. Most of the stuff was still sitting in a storage unit, waiting for him to go through, but the photos had been separate from the rest. Figuring that Nick wouldn't mind, Daniel had copies made of them.

Looking at the pictures, Daniel had to wonder what his parents would think of him now. He had no doubt that they'd be shocked at the way his life had turned out. But would they be proud of him? He hoped so.

Daniel carefully placed the pictures on the first page of the album. Next came a few pictures taken with various foster families. There weren't many of those. Not many of his foster parents took the time to have a photo taken with him.

After that came some pictures of school friends, which led up to photos of him with Doctor Jordan, Steven Raynor and Sarah Gardner. The pictures of Sarah were difficult for Daniel to look at, and he quickly placed them in the album and moved on.

Next came photos from digs around the world, of friends he had made on those digs and pictures of himself with various archeological discoveries. There was a copy of the picture of him on the camel, which made Daniel smile. God, that was so long ago. If he had only known then what he knew now.

At last, Daniel came to the photos of his team. The very first was one was taken at the party Jack had thrown after Daniel came back alive and relatively well from Oannes. Jack had explained that, since they had a wake for him, the least they could do was also have a "welcome back from the dead" party.

The second picture was one taken at the "saved the world" party, which was held at the SGC shortly after SG-1 returned from destroying Apophis' ships. After that, there were various pictures taken at holiday celebrations, birthday parties and get-togethers. Among these was one of Daniel's favorites, the picture taken at the dinner he and his teammates had at Jack's house shortly after Daniel's return from ascension. He was still recovering his memories at the time and could only recall bits and pieces of his years on SG-1, but when Sam insisted that they needed a photo to commemorate the day, it had made him feel good. Standing there, with Sam's arm around his waist and Jack's hand on his shoulder, he had truly felt their friendship.

Daniel smiled down at the photo. It was a copy of the one that had been on his desk, the one that was damaged by his psychic outburst. Jack had two new copies printed from the negatives, one of which was back on Daniel's desk.

The archeologist put the photo in the album, plus a few others. Several pages remained empty, and Daniel wondered what would end up filling them. He hoped that he'd be able to fill this album and more in the years to come.

Daniel flipped back through the pages, rearranging some of the pictures. This time, when he got to the ones of Sarah, he did not hurry by. He had a whole lot of regrets in his life, and what happened to Sarah was one of the biggest. Remembering the way she was back when they were friends and lovers and then thinking about her present fate hurt a lot.

Daniel touched a picture that was just of Sarah. "I'm sorry, Sarah," he murmured. "I wish that there was some way I could save you."

Without warning, an image flashed through Daniel's mind of the woman who was now possessed by Osiris.

"You have something that I want, Doctor Jackson, and I will have it from you," she murmured. Then his vision was filled by the harsh golden light of a ribbon device.

With a gasp, Daniel jerked back, the photo album falling to the floor. He sat still on the couch, recovering from the vision. There was no doubt of what it meant. Sometime in the not too distant future, Daniel would be meeting Osiris again.

To be continued.

* * *

I'd like to thank everyone who has given reviews on this story. It is greatly appreciated.


End file.
